Paintings in the Cosquer cave near Marseilles in France are the oldest
known examples of prehistoric cave painting in the world. The cave, discovered
in July 1991 by deep-sea diver Henri Cosquer, contains a rich collection
of finger tracings, painted hand prints and painted and engraved animals.
It can be reached only from the sea along an underwater passage.
Last week, archaeologist Jean Clottes announced the preliminary results
of carbon dating, which show that one of the hand prints was painted some
27 110 years ago. Carbon samples from the floor near the oldest hand print
were found to date from about 27 870 years ago. Other samples were more
recent, dating from around 18 000 years ago.