Small, deadly, and set in stone

THE Niaux cave, in the foothills of the French Pyrenees, is famous for its prehistoric art. Visiting it last month was an exhilarating experience.

In a chamber, known as the ‘Salon Noir’, animals are depicted in profile. Why people travelled a kilometre underground, by the light of primitive torches 13,000 years ago, to create such images, is a mystery.

Art works at the Chauvet Cave in the Ardèche are up to 34,000 years old. Their style, however, is similar to those at Niaux, produced 20,000 years later. Such a timescale is hard to grasp. It is 2,000 years since the time of Christ. The interval between the drawings in these two caves is ten times that.