In the fall of 1940, a group of boys exploring the outdoors in the Dordogne area of southwest France came upon the entrance to a cave–and unwittingly discovered a treasure trove of prehistoric art. The walls of the cave now known as ‘Lascaux’ are covered with hundreds of images–giant drawings of bulls, horses, and humans–created some 17,000 years ago, in the Upper Paleolithic Period. The cave was opened to the public in 1948, but after several years, scientists observed that the artwork was being damaged by carbon dioxide, heat, humidity, and other contaminants produced by an average of 1,200 visitors who explored the caves each day. To protect the prehistoric masterpieces, the cave has been closed to the public since 1963. Today, the closest you can get is viewing full-scale replicas at the International Centre for Cave Art in nearby Montignac, where our homepage image was photographed.
Venture into a prehistoric gallery of art
Today in History
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Row, row, row your gondola
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Into the woods
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Grandparents Day
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Surströmming Day
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Celebrating the first day of spring
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National Mushroom Month
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Kluane National Park
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Hispanic Heritage Month
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International Archaeology Day
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Celebrating Norwegian Constitution Day
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Busy building wetlands
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Don t forget—it’s World Elephant Day
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What does the fox dream?
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Glenfinnan Viaduct
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Meet our fuzzy Earth Day mascot
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Celebrating a young girl s age-old discovery
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International Surfing Day
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Cannes, France, in the spotlight
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Taking the scenic route
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Our Lady of the Rocks
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Summer winds down in the Southern Hemisphere
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Whangārei Falls in New Zealand
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Hello, harbinger of spring
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‘Ocian in view! O! The joy.’
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Going with the floe
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Sunlight sets Iceland s Eyjafjallajökull aglow
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And you thought moths were boring
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The Badlands celebrates a milestone
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Mapping courage in the Seventh Ward
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Harvest time in the Palouse