Marcel Ravidat

Vocation

Notable

Family

French newsmaker, who as an 18-year-old apprentice garage mechanic discovered the entrance to Lascaux Cave on 12 September 1940. Ravidat returned to the scene with three friends, Jacques Marsal, Georges Agnel, and Simon Coencas, and entered the cave via a long shaft. The teenagers discovered that the cave walls were covered with depictions of animals. The cave paintings contain some of the best-known Upper Paleolithic art. These paintings are estimated to be 17,300 years old. They primarily consist of images of large animals, most of which are known from fossil evidence to have lived in the area at the time. The cave is located near the village of Montignac, in the department of Dordogne, in southwestern France. The cave complex was opened to the public in 1948. Ravidat became an official guardian of the cave and a guide, and later became a mechanic at a nearby paper mill. In 1979, Lascaux was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list. Ravidat died of a heart attack in Montignac on 29 March 1995, survived by a wife and daughter. Link to Wikipedia biography (French)