Today in History

September 12, 1940

The Re-Discovery of the Lascaux Caves

On September 12, 1940, four teenagers and their dog were exploring the hills near their home village of Montignac, France. They discovered the entrance to a cave and walked into its interior. On the stone walls were fantastic paintings of humans and large animals. They had discovered the Lascaux Cave paintings, some of the best examples of pre-historic art.

More than 2000 individual figures decorate the cave walls. Many are of animals that can be identified from fossils found in the same area. Horses, stags, bison, and even a rhinoceros-like animal appears. Many of the images, deteriorated by time, are not capable of identification. Best estimates are that the images were created more than 16,000 years ago.

The caves are no longer open to the public. Molds and carbon dioxide introduced by the crowds of visitors to the site were causing damage to the paintings and threatening an important part of human heritage. Now only scientists visit the cave a few days each month.

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