Carte 14. Salle Hillaire (Partie sud)

International audienceThis first volume of Monographie de la grotte Chauvet-Pont d’Arc presents a reasoned inventory of the information contained in the cave in the form of an atlas. While this type of publication may seem unusual, the dimensions of the cave, the morphology of the chambers and galleries that compart-mentalize its space, as well as the inscription of artworks in its underground landscape, are all invitations to reflect upon, study and structure our knowledge of the cave using a cartographic approach. The progressive presentation of the Atlas de la grotte Chauvet-Pont d’Arc enables us to address, in the most neutral manner possible, the complexity and factual richness, often emphasized, of this underground sanctuary.The proposed itinerary, close to that of the current path of the walkways from the entrance to the end of the cavity, invites us to discover the cave via twenty maps extracted from the integrated map of the cave floors. Moving through the cave and into its smallest and most intimate spaces, each person can shape their reading according to their interests. The visit to each of the twenty zones is organized according to the same narrative structure. The first page, accompa-nied by a panoramic photograph, presents the main charac-teristics of the zone and the themes that will be addressed. Depending on the sectors, the archaeology, paleontology, geology, speleogenesis or underground landscape is empha-sized. The second and third pages are positioned opposite each other and are designed to interact. The second page presents the integrated map reproduced at the 1:100 scale. Below it, a thumbnail representation enables the reader to identify the location of the map within the cave. A small map at the 1:300 scale presents the cave floor in 3D and shows the location, feature and artwork designations, the permanent and temporary paths installed for observations, as well as the camera angles and the position of the longitudinal profile of the zone. A synoptic figure shows the relative representation of each of the research domains in the map zone. The pages that follow provide an initial synthesis of the observations and research in progress. These aspects will be presented in detail in the succeeding volumes of the Atlas de la grotte Chauvet-Pont d’Arc