Old Stone AgeCulture & Arts Chauvet Cave paintings c. 36,000 BCEMajor Masterful lions, horses and rhinos painted in a French cave reveal a sophisticated artistic tradition. ▲ MattersSaveShareTrace roots Longest chain: The Big Bang → First stars ignite → Supernovae seed heavy elements → The Sun forms → Earth forms → First oceans → First life → Photosynthesis evolves → Great Oxidation Event → Complex cells (eukaryotes) → Multicellular life → First animals → Cambrian Explosion → First vertebrates → Jawed fish → Fish walk onto land → The amniotic egg → The Great Dying → Dinosaurs appear → Asteroid ends the dinosaurs → Early primates → Apes split from monkeys → Human line splits from chimpanzees → Walking upright → First stone tools → Genus Homo appears → Homo erectus → Control of fire → Habitual fire and cooking → Homo sapiens appears → Pigments and symbols → Oldest known figurative art → Chauvet Cave paintings Community notesLoading notes… Learn more ranked by votesDocumentwhc.unesco.orgDecorated Cave of Pont d'Arc, Grotte Chauvet (UNESCO World Heritage) ↗Editor's pickBookJean-Marie Chauvet, Eliette Brunel Deschamps and Christian HillaireDawn of Art: The Chauvet Cave ↗Editor's pickBookGregory CurtisThe Cave Painters ↗Editor's pickVideoSearch on YouTubeChauvet Cave paintings documentary ↗Editor's pick