Chauvet Cave

Improved Essays
The film Cave of Forgotten Dreams takes the viewer inside the lost cave presently known as the Chauvet Cave of Southern France. Once inside the filmmaker Werner Herzog captures the pictures of the oldest paintings of humankind in their natural setting among the walls of this long lost subterranean area. As a result, a group of scientist discovered this cave in 1994 , and it was given the name Chauvet Cave after one of the members of the three person party. After entering the small opening to the cave, they discovered the perfectly preserved cavern walls that contained some of the earliest known human paintings. The cave had been completely sealed off by a rock slide for over 20,000 years. Consequently, director Werner Herzog was given permission …show more content…
They had the appearance of recently painted surfaces. The stone walls were covered with drawings of cave bears, horses, mammoths, and other animals of the time period. The way the animals were drawn gave them the look as if they were in movement, and the cave surfaces allowed some animals to have a three dimensional display. Clearly, this ancient human race seemed to only use the cave for painting and possible ceremonies. Scientist also observed cave bear scratches on the rock walls, as well as the wall panel containing palm prints. Upon studying the palm prints, scientist determined they were made by a man six foot in stature with a crooked little finger. The natural beauty of the cave was largely covered by concretion growth along with bones and rocks covered by calcite; this was likely created by dripping water withing this rock shelter. In conclusion, Werner Herzog was the first filmmaker to succeed in creating this type of film by gaining the permission of the French government. Dealing with all the restrictions bestowed upon him, he and his crew were able to film the beautiful pristine natural beauty of artistic history along with additional future stone artifacts creating this interesting film in

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