Caves of Arcy-sur-Cure

A system of 14 limestone caves in Burgundy, France, formed by the Cure river some 60 million years ago, constituting one of the richest archaeological assemblages in France with 200,000 years of human occupation. The Grotte du Renne yielded Neanderthal stone tools and ornaments from the Chatelperronian period (45,000-38,000 BCE), demonstrating significant cultural creativity, while a Neanderthal jawbone discovered in 1858 provided the first direct evidence of human occupation. The Grande Grotte preserves approximately 170 animal paintings in ochre and charcoal dating to over 28,000 years ago -- the second oldest after Chauvet -- depicting mammoths and stags in a distinctive continuous-contour style. The paintings were hidden beneath calcite and torch soot until revealed through infrared photography in the 1990s.