Chauvet Cave on NOVA
Very few people will ever stand inside Chauvet Cave. The French government controls access, the public is not allowed in, and even the scientists who study it work under strict limits. That makes NOVA's new film, Stone Age Masterpiece, a rare thing: nearly an hour inside one of the most important art sites on Earth. The episode (Season 53, Episode 11) premiered September 30 on PBS and is streaming free on pbs.org through October 29, 2026. Watch it while you can. Watch NOVA: Stone Age Masterpiece on PBS What the film covers Chauvet was sealed by a rockfall more than 20,000 years ago and rediscovered in December 1994 by Éliette Brunel, Christian Hillaire, and Jean-Marie Chauvet. Radiocarbon dates from charcoal put the drawings at more than 37,000 years old, nearly twice the age of Lascaux. NOVA follows the research team as they rebuild the cave's whole history, starting with the...
