Bull

The oldest cave paintings ever discovered were found in La Chappelle-Aubareil in South West France in 1982 by 12 year-old Emile Gaspaud. Emile was, contrary to his parents' direct orders, exploring some crevices in the rocks near the family's home. Crevices that even Emile, who was small for his age, could barely squeeze through. When his torchlight revealed the paintings, tens of metres from the entrance, Emile was so overcome with emotion that the pool of illumination from his torch wavered as it picked its way over herds of antelope and dozens of bulls as well as other animals that he couldn't identify. The colours - reds and yellows - were unbearably vivid and the drawings were exciting and full of life. Emile was moved by the idea that he was the first person to have seen these paintings since their painters had left. He could almost feel that there was a man or, perhaps, a 12 year-old boy, in the next cave, painting more of the fabulous animals.

Emile stared at the paintings until his torch started to dim. He turned back and took one last, hungry, look before clambering out of the cave. Once he was back in the daylight, he walked back to his house and never told anyone about the paintings.