AIA Tours: land

Decorated Caves of the Pyrenees & the Rhone Valley

Tour Dates: April 2025 in the planning stages (12 days)

Tour Leader(s): Paul G. Bahn ,

This tour is in the planning stages for a April 2025 departure. For more information on this tour, or to be notified in advance when this tour is ready, contact us at 800-748-6262 or aia@studytours.org.

Discover a collection of magnificent but largely unheralded examples of Ice Age art while in the company of prehistory expert Paul G. Bahn. Admire unusual, elegant bas-relief animal images in Basque caves, a profusion of hand prints at Gargas, and the famous panels of line-drawn and subtly shaded bison, horse, and ibex at Niaux. Visit the recently opened Cosquer Méditerranée, a replica of a heavily decorated, now submerged, prehistoric cave that was discovered in 1985. The trip concludes with a visit to the spectacular Chauvet Cave replica at Vallon-Pont-d’Arc, which expertly re-creates the earliest, and perhaps most impressive, of the many masterpieces of Ice Age art dated to some 35,000 years ago. Enjoy fine food and delightful accommodations while an expert tour manager handles all the logistics.


Tour Pricing (10 nights)

Per person, double occupancy

TBA

Single room supplement will be charged when requested or required (limited availability).
With fewer than 10 participants, a small group surcharge may be added.

This tour is in the planning stages for a April 2025 departure. For more information on this tour, or to be notified in advance when this tour is ready, contact us at 800-748-6262 or aia@studytours.org.


Paintings of bison from the Salon Noir of Niaux cave. ©HTO

The entrance to Isturitz cave. © Krijun.

The Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain. © Nicolas Vigier.

The Ekainberri panel of horses, Spain. © Zaidiak.

Cosquer Mediterranee © KRossillon

Tautavel Man is a proposed subspecies of the hominid Homo erectus. Image © Rémih.

A charcoal drawing from Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc Cave, France. © Claude Valette

Itinerary


This tour is in the planning stages for a April 2025 departure. For more information on this tour, or to be notified in advance when this tour is ready, contact us at 800-748-6262 or aia@studytours.org.

View Detailed Itinerary

This tour is in the planning stages for a April 2025 departure. For more information on this tour, or to be notified in advance when this tour is ready, contact us at 800-748-6262 or aia@studytours.org.


For reservations or questions, please email us at aia@studytours.org (and include your full name) or call us toll-free at (800) 748-6262 (toll: 603-756-2884). To reserve your space using the online form, click here.

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