[Music] the Odes gorge in the south of France we're making a journey to the most important prehistoric site ever [Music] discovered an ancient testimony to the dawn of human creativity and culture and it's hidden deep within these Limestone [Music] Cliffs after the climb Comes The Descent into the darkness and the [Music] silence the chave cave system is vast we have to stick to the slim walkways that have been laid weaving through the stall mites and stalactites that reach out from the darkness witnesses to this unbelievable Time Capsule are rare until recently the only humans to set eyes on this place were our Paleolithic ancestors before a rockfall cut it off from the outside world sealed shut for tens of thousands of years this place was discovered by cavers in 19 1994 and then closed off to the public immediately very few people have ever been allowed in but it's absolutely [Music] spectacular it's not only the ancient Footprints and animal bones that excite archaeologists here the most important features of this cave are also its most breathtaking [Music] hundreds of images Adorn the walls most of them animals drawn with charcoal and red ochre they're surprisingly sophisticated the artists seeming to have worked with the Contours of the rock there're so well preserved they look as if they could have been drawn yesterday but radio carbon dating has revealed that they were painted 35,000 Years Ago by our early human ancestors it's some of the oldest Arts ever found and it's these paintings that are most at risk if the cave were to be opened up to visitors we risk contamination temperature can grow very quickly the climate would be disturbed so much that we could have uh alteration of the paintings we don't want to take this risk scientists speak from bitter experience in 19 1940 the Lasco cave complex was discovered in France for more than 20 years it was accessible to the public until increasingly visible damage from molden bacteria forced the authorities to seal it off but these paintings are now thought to be damaged Beyond [Music] [Applause] repair 35,000 years ago while this Gorge might have looked the same life around here was completely different it was the Ice Age temperatures in the south of France were more like those in Sweden today beasts like woolly rhinos and mammoths roamed the land providing the inspiration for these ancient artists scientists once thought early humans were primitive but the discovery of the paintings revealed that creativity was already flourishing so it's a shame the public can't see them the authorities have faced a dilemma and need to both Preserve and promote this precious Heritage the answer build another [Music] one it's press day in the Region's newest cave this is one way to bring prehistory to the modern masses at a cost of 55 million euros this replica of the chave cave has taken 8 years from conception to opening it reproduces some of the Cave's most important features to scale and condenses them in a great big hanger perched on top of a hill only kilometers from the original it's hugely impressive this collaboration between scientists Architects and Engineers apart from the walkways the lighting and the odd Gap in the ceiling you could almost be in the real thing but the walls here aren't made from Rock they're made from concrete and resin behind the scenes an elaborate scaffold supports the illusion using scans and 6,000 images they created a digital map of the cave and planned out the replica then a large team of sculptors and artists started bringing the geological features to life but the big drawer is these these were created offsite with photos of the original images projected onto canvases of fake rock in the painters [Music] Studios Jill too was one of the artists he spent six months working on these drawings it's important for the public to to see the art in in the environment you know in the in the real situation that they have in the real cave because this art is really linked uh very closely linked to the cave you have the darkness you have also so the the fresh air and so on humidity and these elements are also an important part of the feeling of the emotion that you can have in front of The Originals the scientist who first advised the French authorities not to open the original says a replica is the next best way to share the Cave's meaning the people didn't live in the inside this cave uh they lived outside and they went to the cave for their ceremonies to draw those animals which were power animals and the cave was a place which was charged with that Supernatural power and we know about that because very often they use the natural rels the cracks the bumps in the cave to draw the animals for them those animals were inside the all ready to appear away from the crowd that will undoubtedly gather when the Reconstruction opens the real cave is full of The Echoes of History while it's been reproduced to great effect it would be impossible to recreate the intimate connection with the past you feel when you're here but with so few people privileged enough to compare the two it's hoped that the replica will manage to evoke a similar sense of wonder and amazement and give the wider World a glimpse of the the past