Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc Cave

E304554

archaeological site prehistoric cave rock art site

Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc Cave is a prehistoric cave in southern France renowned for its exceptionally well-preserved Paleolithic wall paintings, some of the oldest known in the world.

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All labels observed (6)

Label	Occurrences
Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc Cave canonical	3
Caverne du Pont-d’Arc (Chauvet 2)	1
Decorated Cave of Pont d’Arc, known as Grotte Chauvet-Pont d’Arc, Ardèche	1
Grotte Chauvet 2 – Ardèche	1
Grotte de Chauvet	1
Pont d’Arc cave (Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc Cave)	1

How this entity was disambiguated

This entity first appeared as the object of triple T2840940 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.

NED1 Entity disambiguation (via context triple) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc Cave
Context triple: [Ardèche, contains, Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc Cave]

A. Grotte de Mas d’Azil
Grotte de Mas d’Azil is a large prehistoric cave in southwestern France renowned for its Paleolithic and Azilian archaeological remains and dramatic natural tunnel traversed by a road and river.
B. Grotte des Demoiselles
Grotte des Demoiselles is a famous limestone show cave in southern France known for its vast chambers, dramatic stalactite and stalagmite formations, and underground cathedral-like hall.
C. Grotte de Pech Merle
Grotte de Pech Merle is a famous prehistoric cave in southern France renowned for its well-preserved Paleolithic wall paintings and engravings.
D. Grotte de Niaux
Grotte de Niaux is a famous prehistoric cave in southwestern France renowned for its well-preserved Paleolithic cave paintings.
E. Grotte de la Madeleine
Grotte de la Madeleine is a famous show cave in southern France known for its impressive limestone formations and underground chambers along the Gorges de l’Ardèche.
F. None of above. chosen
G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.

NED2 Entity disambiguation (via description) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc Cave
Target entity description: Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc Cave is a prehistoric cave in southern France renowned for its exceptionally well-preserved Paleolithic wall paintings, some of the oldest known in the world.

A. Grotte de Mas d’Azil
Grotte de Mas d’Azil is a large prehistoric cave in southwestern France renowned for its Paleolithic and Azilian archaeological remains and dramatic natural tunnel traversed by a road and river.
B. Grotte des Demoiselles
Grotte des Demoiselles is a famous limestone show cave in southern France known for its vast chambers, dramatic stalactite and stalagmite formations, and underground cathedral-like hall.
C. Grotte de Pech Merle
Grotte de Pech Merle is a famous prehistoric cave in southern France renowned for its well-preserved Paleolithic wall paintings and engravings.
D. Grotte de Niaux
Grotte de Niaux is a famous prehistoric cave in southwestern France renowned for its well-preserved Paleolithic cave paintings.
E. Grotte de la Madeleine
Grotte de la Madeleine is a famous show cave in southern France known for its impressive limestone formations and underground chambers along the Gorges de l’Ardèche.
F. None of above. chosen

Statements (61)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	archaeological site ⓘ prehistoric cave ⓘ rock art site ⓘ
country	France ⓘ
depicts	bears ⓘ bison ⓘ horses ⓘ human hand stencils ⓘ lions ⓘ mammoths ⓘ owls ⓘ rhinoceroses ⓘ
discoveredBy	Christian Hillaire ⓘ Eliette Brunel-Deschamps ⓘ Jean-Marie Chauvet ⓘ
hasApproximateLength	about 400 meters ⓘ
hasArtForm	charcoal drawings ⓘ engravings ⓘ parietal art ⓘ red ochre paintings ⓘ
hasArtPeriod	Upper Paleolithic ⓘ
hasConservationStatus	closed to the general public ⓘ
hasCulture	Aurignacian ⓘ Gravettian ⓘ
hasDatingMethod	radiocarbon dating ⓘ stylistic analysis ⓘ
hasDiscoveryDate	1994-12-18 ⓘ
hasEarliestArtDate	circa 36,000 years ago ⓘ
hasEntranceElevation	approximately 185 meters above sea level ⓘ
hasFaunalRemains	cave bear bones ⓘ
hasGeologicalType	limestone cave ⓘ
hasHumanOccupationEvidence	charcoal fragments ⓘ hearths ⓘ
hasLatestArtDate	circa 30,000 years ago ⓘ
hasManagementAuthority	French Ministry of Culture ⓘ
hasNotableFeature	bear skull placed on a rock pedestal ⓘ negative and positive handprints ⓘ overlapping animal figures suggesting movement ⓘ panel of the horses ⓘ panel of the lions ⓘ use of cave wall relief to enhance images ⓘ
hasProtectionStatus	classified historic monument of France ⓘ
hasReplica	Caverne du Pont-d’Arc ⓘ linked to: Caverne du Pont-d'Arc (area) Grotte Chauvet 2 – Ardèche ⓘ linked to: Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc Cave
hasResearchDiscipline	paleoanthropology ⓘ prehistoric archaeology ⓘ rock art studies ⓘ
hasSignificance	contains some of the oldest known figurative cave paintings in the world ⓘ exceptionally well-preserved Paleolithic wall paintings ⓘ major site for study of early modern human symbolic behavior ⓘ
inscribedOnUNESCOWorldHeritageListIn	2014 ⓘ
locatedIn	Ardèche Gorge ⓘ linked to: Gorges de l’Ardèche Ardèche department ⓘ southern France ⓘ linked to: Southern France
locatedInRegion	Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes ⓘ linked to: Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region
locatedNear	Vallon-Pont-d’Arc ⓘ linked to: Gorges de l’Ardèche
namedAfter	Pont d’Arc natural bridge ⓘ linked to: Pont d’Arc natural stone arch
UNESCOWorldHeritageCriteria	(i) ⓘ (iii) ⓘ
UNESCOWorldHeritageName	Decorated Cave of Pont d’Arc, known as Grotte Chauvet-Pont d’Arc, Ardèche ⓘ linked to: Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc Cave
UNESCOWorldHeritageStatus	World Heritage Site ⓘ linked to: UNESCO World Heritage Site

How these facts were elicited