Bear skull replica placed on top of a rock at Caverne du Pont d'Arc, a copy of the Chauvet Cave, Ardeche, France. The original bear skull found at Chauvet Cave is 30,000 to 32,000 years old. The prehistoric site also contains some of the best-preserved Palaeolithic (stone age) figurative cave paintings in the world. These paintings are thought to be around 36,000 years. Caverne du Pont d'Arc, constructed to preserve Chauvet cave, opened to the public in 2015.