the cave contains the oldest known cave paintings, based on radiocarbon dating of "black from drawings, from torch marks and from the floors." clottes concludes that the "dates fall into two groups, one around 27,000-26,000 bp and the other around 32,000-30,000 bp." as of 1999, the dates of 31 samples from the cave had been reported, with the earliest being 32,900±490 bp.