65 Years Ago in Art History

Four teenaged boys, enticed by the prospect of hidden treasure, discovered a cave after a storm uprooted trees in the southwest of France. Oh, and didn't they find a treasure in the cavern, after all? It wasn't gold or gems their lanterns illuminated, but some 200 paintings of realistic animals - painted, as things turned out, by anonymous artists approximately 17,000 years ago in the Paleolithic era. None of these gents signed their work, as these paintings predated any sort of alphabet by many thousands of years, though they did leave us the outlines of their hands. This cultural treasure has been closed to the public since 1963, when it was discovered that the carbon dioxide emissions of breathing tourists were damaging the paintings. However, the brilliant French government has commissioned a replica of the Lascaux caves - which will tour! - that is slated to be completed by 2007.