Deep inside a labyrinth cave in southwestern France, ancient humans who lived around 30,000 years ago carved horses, mammoths and rhinoceroses into the walls, a fabulous prehistoric menagerie that has rarely been seen – until now.
Discovered in 2000 by an amateur cave explorer, the Grotte de Cussac in the Dordogne department, holds ancient human remains, traces of long-extinct bears and stunning, fragile artworks its custodians go to great lengths to preserve.
Typically, the French authorities restrict access to the cave to researchers, who are only allowed to enter it four weeks per year.
Authorities are anxious to avoid a repeat of the damage done to France’s Lascaux caves by microorganisms brought in by visitors.
The Lascaux caves – which are also located in Dordogne, though their artworks are estimated to be thousands of years younger than the Cussac carvings – were closed to the public in 1963 to save their precious frescoes.
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