Return to Chauvet Cave: excavating the birthplace of art Jean Clottes Thames & Hudson, 225pp, £45 ISBN 0500511195

Every so often people make discoveries that are so extraordinary it is impossible to find adequate words to describe them. When asked whether he could discern anything in Tutankhamun's newly opened tomb, the archaeologist Howard Carter could only reply: "Yes, wonderful things!" In a similar situation more recently, Eliette Brunel's first reaction was: "They were here!" Along with two fellow cavers, Brunel had just chanced upon Chauvet Cave, a series of subterranean chambers in the Ardeche gorge in the Rhone Valley, the walls of which are adorned with hundreds of prehistoric paintings of animals, as well as outlines of the hands that made them.

Had Brunel known how old the images were, her astonishment might have been even greater. Carbon dating indicates that the depictions of lions, mammoths and rhinoceroses were created more than 30,000 years ago, which makes them the oldest known paintings anywhere in the world, and nearly twice as old as the famous cave decorations at Lascaux.

This superbly illustrated book is the first full report from the team of archaeologists who have been exploring Chauvet Cave since its discovery in 1994. In addition to cataloguing the 300 or so painted figures that occupy the site, it records meticulously the many enigmatic details that have come to light: the bear skull that had been carefully placed on a natural pedestal; the remains of a fire so fresh-looking that it seems the people who made it must have recently fled; the footprints of a prehistoric child who made his way "slowly and carefully" through the cave system, occasionally wiping his torch on the walls to renew the light.

So what does Chauvet tell us about our Ice Age ancestors? The prehistoric people who drew these images were patient observers, and had powerful visual memories. A pride of hunting lions is depicted with all the immediacy of a nature documentary and yet the animals are evoked with just a few energetic charcoal strokes, evidently made long after the creatures had last been seen. Indeed, it is clear that these people understood the importance of line: in various places, the artists have gone back over their initial efforts, adjusting the tilt of a rhinoceros's head or the curve of a mammoth's back.

Most intriguingly, Chauvet Cave suggests that fear may have played a part in the origins of visual art. We know that prehistoric people did not live at this site. They painted only those parts of the chamber that sunlight never reaches and the animals they drew were the most dangerous they would have come across. Looming out of the darkness in the flickering torchlight, these beasts must have been terrifying to behold. Essays by anthropologists in the book draw interesting parallels with modern-day Arctic cultures, in which similar caves or crevices in rocks are believed to be inhabited by dangerous spirits. Chauvet itself is close to a naturally occurring rock bridge - which suggests that it might have been primarily a site of mediation, a place where prehistoric people confronted their fear of the unknown.

For conservation reasons, it is unlikely that Chauvet Cave will ever be open to the public. But through this book and its photographs, Clottes and his team provide a valuable opportunity for non-specialists to explore this extraordinary place.

Matt Shinn is a political speechwriter

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