Ancient skeleton sits among art
2006-06-03 16:20
Vilhonneur - An ancient cave, discovered in western France in December, contains a rare find: a 27 000-year-old human skeleton in a painted room and a drawing of a human face.
It was only the second time a body from this period has been found placed in such a way with cave paintings, said experts on Friday, after months of studying the cave.
A single painted face found in the cave also could be among the oldest graphic representations of a human face, said Jean-Yves Baratin, archaeology curator for the Poitou-Charentes region of France.
According to the country's culture ministry, the state took over ownership of the cave in the Vilhonneur forest on May 12.
Cavers were exploring part of a grotto once used to dispose of animal carcasses when they discovered the cave, which dates to the upper Paleolithic period about 25 000 years ago.
The skeleton also dates from the same period.
Human hand imprinted on wall
The cave's discovery was announced in February, but it was not until Friday that precise information about some of the finds was divulged.
Baratin underscored the significance of the human skeleton been placed on the ground inside a decorated room.
The other instance in which a body was found in a decorated cave is in the hamlet of Cussac, a grotto that experts have said was as important for engravings as paintings are for the famed Lascaux caves.
The Vilhonneur cave features a series of paintings, including one in which a human hand is imprinted on a wall by adding colour around it.
The Lascaux Cave in Montignac, in the southwest Dordogne region, has long been considered one of the finest examples of cave paintings.
That art dates 13 000 years, making the Vilhonneur art much older.
Another cave, Chauvet, was discovered in the mid-1990s in southeast France.
It features 300 examples of Paleolithic animal art, some dating back 31 000 years.
- AP