One of the reasons I love both mitochondrial and Y-DNA testing is because it doesn’t mix with the DNA of the other parent like autosomal DNA does. This means that in additional to being useful genealogically, it provides a direct laser-line back in time – even thousands of years – to your earlier ancestors.

You’ll never know their names, of course, but you can track where they lived and where they migrated – through their mutations – breadcrumbs that function as signposts pointing the way to your ancestors. Using Discover, you can discover (pardon the pun):

• Their migration path
• When haplogroup defining mutations occurred
• Other countries where ancestors of people with that haplogroup lived in a genealogical timeframe
• Where that haplogroup is found further back in time through Ancient Connections

Your haplogroup and DNA matching is a gift from and a ticket to our ancestors that every genealogist should unwrap.

My mitochondrial DNA haplogroup is J1c2f, but the earliest tests that I took two decades ago when this industry was young positioned my haplogroup first as J, then as J1, then as J1c.

It wasn’t until a dozen years later than my full haplogroup, J1c2f was identified when the mitochondrial haplotree was initially published, then developed as more testers tested, both academically and personally at FamilyTreeDNA. Today, of course, we have the new Mitotree with even more refinement.

The earliest tests only covered the HVR1 or HVR1 plus HVR2 regions of mitochondrial DNA, while the current mtFull test covers all 16,569 locations.

Nevertheless, knowing that I was a member of haplogroup J told me something about my early ancestry, as well as provided matching to other testers. That “something” was information I could obtain no other way

In 2003, we knew that early humans had been in Europe by 50,000 years ago, Hunter-gatherers who spent their lives seeking shelter and food. We knew little else about their lives or cultures.

In 1994, stunning rock art had been discovered in Chauvet Cave in France. Thanks to a landslide blocking the entrance some 21,000 years ago, this cave and its art had been protected from humans, wildlife and the elements.

After its accidental discovery, the French government guarded and protected this astounding record of humanity with fervor, not repeating earlier mistakes in other locations, such as the Lascaux Cave, by allowing tourism which essentially destroyed those caves and their art.

Chauvet cave is sealed behind a steel door with very limited access

Research at Chauvet remains closely controlled. Scientists have revealed that the stunning cave art created by early humans was older than initially thought, having been created beginning about 35,000 years ago and extending over thousands of years.

This charcoal drawing of an Irish elk was tested at location GifA 96063 (green dot) and was dated to 36,000 years ago (14C AMS). Furthermore, it’s drawn over what may be the earliest potential known depiction of an erupting volcano.

Just imagine what our predecessors must have thought when volcanos erupted.

Were the Chauvet artists Neanderthal or modern humans, or a mixture of both? We don’t know, but we do know that the earliest DNA recovered from Germany and Czechia, who surprisingly, were distantly related groups, dated from 42,000 and 49,000 years ago. They carried mitochondrial haplogroups N and R and those people were admixed and had Neanderthal ancestors. Then again, so do contemporary Europeans and their descendants.

Later papers expanded on haplogroup migration to and through Europe. We are still learning today – in many cases due to paleoanthropology or archaeogenetics by genetic anthropologists. Excavation and testing of ancient remains continues to reveal fragments and details of our human migration story.

However, back in 2003, when my first results arrived, all we knew was that haplogroup J was a European haplogroup, probably having initially formed in the Levant or Fertile Crescent – and making its way to Europe over thousands of years.

We also knew that Chauvet Cave was the earliest evidence of humankind in a specific European location – so it made sense to wonder if my ancestors were among the cave-painters.

I voraciously read everything I could find about Chauvet Cave, looking at each image and wondering if my ancestor, someplace between 1200 and 1700 generations ago, stood holding red ochre, painted those amazing spiritual images and signed their work with a handprint signature by spitting red pigment over their hand, leaving an outline on the rock wall. Was this a shamanistic ritual, connecting the shaman with the rocks with the animals they painted?

Did the practitioners perhaps hold handfuls of red ochre paint, then splat them against the wall, creating large red polka-dots that remain some 30,000 years later? Was this something fun, adding a little levity to cave painting, or maybe it depicted a wound?

Scientists tell us today that two individuals created those dots. A male that stood about 5’9” and either a female or younger male who pressed their ochre-reddened hands into the cave walls. Did they laugh as they were making art, or was this a spiritual ritual and deadly serious? Did they have a concept of “art” as we do today, or was this their form of religion? Were they praying for a good hunt, or perhaps begging for protection – or maybe both. Maybe looking to appease the Gods if the volcano was threatening to erupt.

Was a trip to the Chauvet Cave a vision quest? Perhaps a rite of passage? Were the animals either signatures of a sort, or visions?

What did they call this cave? Did it have a name? Did they have names?

I could close my eyes and see them. Were these artists specially trained in these techniques – the best of the best in their cultural group? Was it talent or training, or both? Rites of passage? There seems to be a pattern of quality among the paintings that suggest that cave painting wasn’t just left to anyone.

Was this skill or trade passed down through the generations? Was it a right of the leaders or powerful – or maybe followed specific lines? Perhaps direct maternal or direct paternal, or some other inheritance pattern?

Did the painters ritually prepare the wood, making it into charcoal used to draw the lions?

Lions? In Europe?

And rhinoceroses? In present-day France?

How things have changed!

Perhaps they used early handmade tools to engrave and scratch images into the walls for us to marvel at today. They used horsehair brushes with pigments found in their environment to paint and shape the images.

Were the horses domesticated in any way, or were they wild horses?

Did they hunt the animals portrayed – animals long extinct before modern history? Horses, aurochs, deer and mammoths? Was this their way of blessing the hunt, as such?

Many paintings depicted predatory animals such as lions, panthers, leopards, bears, buffaloes, hyenas and even rhinoceroses and are not found in any other European caves.

This hyena and leopard, which is much smaller, both have red ochre spots.

Was this art meant to absorb the power of these powerful awe-inspiring animals, or perhaps they were drawm for protection?

Or, was the act of drawing itself a rite of passage?

Why are no smaller animals portrayed? Was this a cave of special power, or powers?

The cave was inhabited during two historical periods, the first some 30,000-40,000 years ago, and the second roughly 25,000-27,000 years ago. The artwork is from the first habitation.

What happened to those people? Did they move on and cease to inhabit this region?

The remnants of hearths are found in the cave’s soft clay floor, along with a child’s footprints. So are pawprints of cave bears who hibernated there, along with their skulls and the skull of a horned ibex.

Pawprints from about 26,000 years ago are either those of a dog or wolf. Was there a difference then? Had wolves yet been domesticated into dogs as we know them?

Were the paintings meant to protect the painters and their clan? Were they shamanic portals to a spiritual world?

Did they pray to these animals as deities? Why are no humans depicted?

Who were these people?

Why did they select the Chauvet Cave, high on this limestone wall, in a cliff over hung by the massive rock column known as the Pillar of Abraham, as opposed to another location? Is there a special significance? Is the location above the natural bridge relevant? Was it a meeting place or a journey destination? Did the landscape look, from a particular angle, like a prehistoric animal or deity? Some suggest the bridge bears some resemblance to a mammoth from the cave entrance.

There’s only one problem with that theory. The river elevation at that time was much higher than it is today, and the bridge wasn’t carved by the river when the caves were being painted. Many caves in the area are archaeologically significant – but nothing like the Chauvet Cave.

Why this cave?

And why did they choose the deepest recesses of the cave, nearly impossible to reach, in which to paint the best of their stunningly realistic artworks? Was the difficult journey to the cave part of the ritual itself? Did they work in a trance, perhaps? Trances and shamanic practitioners, functioning in the realm of the supernatural, are as old as humanity itself.

Did the artists join their ancestors there? Carbon dioxide levels in the cave reach levels considered unsafe in the winter months.

Were my ancestors among the hundreds of generations of those artists? Were they buried there? Did they become one with the art, the spirits, and ascend to the spirit world from Chauvet Cave?

Or, were some perhaps born in the safety of the deep recesses of the cave where the most spectacular art is found in the Gallery of Lions? Future shamans, perhaps, under the watchful eyes of the spirit animals and those shamans who had come and gone on before?

Could their power or presence be summoned?

So, so many questions.

Yes, I allowed myself to be drawn into the mesmerizing, elusive and unknowable history of Chauvet Cave.

There’s a very real possibility that my ancestors had been there.

Stood there.

Maybe participated in rituals there.

Placed red ochre on the walls.

This slide from a very early DNA presentation pretty much says it all.

I never forgot Chauvet Cave.

I also never thought I would accidentally visit.

Perhaps they summoned me.

But first, let’s go back to 1994 in the Ardèche Valley, high above the Ardèche Gorge and the natural bridge carved into the limestone by the Ardèche River millennia ago.

1994

It was a cold afternoon on a day that would live forever, shaping and changing our understanding of human prehistory. On December 18, 1994, three friends, amateur cavers, officially discovered the cave. Another person, Michel Rosa, nicknamed Baba, had discovered a hole the previous summer, which he deemed an airhole or vent into a cave, but was blocked by a stalactite that he could not get past. He was not among the group of three who would make their way into the cave that winter.

The entrance, marked above, was steep and difficult. The cave was long, and the depths, where the most remarkable art awaited, would not be reached for another several months.

Credit for discovery of the cave, and how much credit is deserved by whom is hotly disputed yet today.

Regardless, Eliette Brunel was the first to wedge her way into the hole, dropping into a world that time had frozen. After her eyes had adjusted and she looked past the crystalline deposits that had formed since the last humans visited more than 20,000 years earlier, she spotted fuzzy red lines on the wall, and exclaimed, “They have been here!”

The cave consists of six chambers, filled with prehistoric animals, plus two vulva-type figures, and perhaps one minotaur, depending on your interpretation.

These early artists achieved a realism not before known, nor discovered since, by incorporating the natural fissured and curves of the cave wall into the paintings, giving them motion, movement and life. That speaks of talent, not just copying and repeating a pattern.

Another of the three explorers, Jean-Marie Chauvet, for whom the cave was named the Chauvet-Pont d’Arc, remarked at the “remarkable realism” and “aesthetic mastery” of the early artists and their drawings.

The sophistication of these paintings exceeded that of any early works, and most later ones as well. In one word, they are unique, and we may never fully understand their genesis, purpose or impact.

Less than a decade later, when my haplogroup J DNA results arrived, the thrill of the Chauvet Cave discovery was still fresh – as was my palpable excitement about understanding the path of haplogroup J, then nicknamed Jasmine, as she trekked across Europe.

Was Jasmine in the Chauvet Cave? I don’t know.

Were my other ancestors in the Chauvet Cave? Probably, if the people of Chauvet survived? When Europe was first populated, animals and hazards far outnumbered small bands of people. A tiny village or family group of, say, maybe 20 people could easily be wiped out. Their genetic line forever extinguished.

Let’s hope that we continue to find ancient remains in Europe, and perhaps in the limestone caves along the Ardèche River. If people returned to this same location for around 20,000 years, one might surmise that the legend or custom of cave painting was passed from generation to generation, or maybe group to group. However, the truly masterful paintings seemed to only occur when the first group of people lived there.

Of course, they couldn’t return to this cave after the rockslide sealed the entrance. I can only imagine how the people, who may have been returning for time immemorial, 700-900 generations, felt to return and see their sacred cave permanently sealed.

Did they feel it was divine intervention? How did they interpret that? It seems like they would have done more than just shrug.

Did they have any concept of the number of future generations that might succeed them, as they had succeeded their ancestors for those 800 or so generations?

Probably not, but yet there I was, at Chauvet, in the summer of 2023, quite my accident.

The Surprise Visit

I journeyed to France in the summer of 2023 to travel to various ancestral locations via riverboat along the Rhone River, and to bask in the land of countless ancestors.

The tour operators offered day trips that guests could select from, and I chose one that included a walk in the beautiful village of Viviers, a visit to a lavender distillery, and the Ardèche Gorge. Truthfully, it was the lavender distillery, Maison de la Lavande, and the medieval village that hooked me. The Gorge was an added benefit.

Little did I realize…

We set out to visit the Massif Central and the Ardèche region. Ironically, I almost didn’t go, because I was concerned about the twisty curvy roads, and I didn’t want to feel ill. I sat near the front of the tour bus, just behind the driver, which afforded a wonderful view. Albeit, sometimes, a frightening view as the magnitude of the driving challenge was evident.

What I didn’t anticipate was a day trip that would include the Chauvet Cave.

The bus route through the Massif Central followed the Ardèche Gorge and winding Ardèche River, hundreds of feet below.

The river carves its way through the limestone cliffs, sculpting the land beneath and beside it’s wandering path.

It’s truly a long way down. Kayakers enjoy the slow-moving waters.

Kayak rentals abound along the lower reaches of the river.

The road runs high in the mountains, parallel to the river gorge, with overlooks at a few locations along the way. Few places have enough space for an extra lane, so overlooks are quite limited.

It was difficult for me to fend off motion sickness, but I managed, and it turned out to be well worth the effort.

It was an exceptionally hot day, so excuse my appearance.

If I look happy here, I didn’t yet know that the Chauvet Cave would present itself, literally, in front of me.

I hadn’t thought about the Chauvet Cave in some time and hadn’t put two and two together.

A few hours into our journey, we needed to stop for a bathroom break, to give the poor bus and driver a break, and to eat lunch.

When you are driving along the road beneath Chauvet Cave, at the base of the cliffs, you can’t see much of anything except foliage.

You can see the little walk in the field that begins a very steep hike and climb onto the cliffs. I took pictures here with absolutely no idea what I was photographing, although this one is from Google Maps later. What were the chances of taking a photo of that exact place and discovering it only later after the cave’s location had been pointed out to me?

The cave is unmarked, so you’d never know it was there if you didn’t know. We drove right past this incredible site, and no one was aware. It hadn’t clicked yet for me, either.

This unremarkable, humble little fence is the only clue. If you’re worried about me revealing the location, don’t be. The site is impenetrable.

You can see the loop, the location of the cave, the “person” on the road beside the stone building where we ate, and the camera icon is the natural bridge.

Our lunch stop, the stone building above, is essentially the only place in the area that has amenities with parking that could accommodate the bus. There were no other choices, but it was lovely and we didn’t care. I’ve marked the cave to the right, but we still had no idea.

When I say amenities, I mean remote French country, with a very cute, rather rustic but very clean building surrounded by flowers.

We piled out, stood in line for the restroom facilities which had been built onto a historic stone building without restroom facilities. There are very few new buildings in France. You can tell this is the only facility for many miles because this sign expressed exactly how we all felt.

We had a good laugh.

We were invited to find a seat at the few tables at what I think was actually a campground. There were maybe three tables inside and several more outside on the patio.

I’m an outside person, hot weather or not, so I found my way to the most distant table, beneath a tree, across from the vineyard, beside a flower box. Yes indeed, this is my idea of a wonderful, peaceful respite.

I could stay here forever.

This choice would turn out to be an incredible “happy accident.”

One of the two servers brought us a pitcher of ice water and glasses. And wine. Every meal has wine, but I’m not a wine connoisseur so my husband always gets mine too. I’m happy and he’s very happy:)

When traveling as a group, you often don’t get a lunch choice, or if you do, it’s either item 1 or item 2. I don’t recall what I selected. The menu was in French and I got the gist of it, but it really didn’t matter – I’m flexible and like to try new things. Often Jim and I order something different so we can both try two new things. We call it “adventure eating.”

Keep in mind that France is a much more laid back place than the US. Lunch may take an hour. Maybe two. Maybe all afternoon. It’s more about the event and the camaraderie and enjoying the food that getting full.

As we relaxed, waited for our lunch, enjoyed the wine, and chatted among ourselves, for some reason, it struck me that I thought I recalled that the Chauvet Cave was someplace in this region.

I had no cell reception, so I found our lovely French tour guide who was sitting inside with our bus driver, and asked.

I struggle with French, and she struggled with English, so I thought sure she had misunderstood my question when her answer was “Oui, Juste ici,” meaning “Yes, right here.”

No, I didn’t mean generally – I mean where, exactly? Will be pass anyplace close?

Yes, she replied, “it’s right here.”

Wait? What?

Me: Chauvet Cave?

Her: Oui, Grotte Chauvet?

Me: Where?

Her, pointing: “Juste là-bas.“ – Right over there.

Me: Vraiment? (Really?)

Her: “Oui, vraiment.”

My incredulity must have been written all over my face.

She came outside and sat down beside me. I showed her my phone with a picture of a map from earlier. She put the phone on the table and started pointing.

I was very confused.

She stood up and motioned for me to come with her.

We walked across the gravel road to the vineyard and she began to point.

“Right there,” she said, “on the cliff.”

“Where on the cliff?”

“Under the bushes?”

“Which bushes?”

I took this picture, and she pointed to the bushes beneath the rocky portion of the mountain, to the right of the large bushy glob, for lack of another word.

I was utterly and completely dumbstruck.

Speechless.

I stood mute in disbelief.

I finally found my words again and asked how she knew the exact location of the cave? She told me she lived in the little nearby village, and her friend actually discovered the cave. Everyone, she said, who lives there knows exactly where it is.

How is this even remotely possible?

July 8, 2023 – Facebook posting

OMG, I’ve died and gone to Heaven. I’m literally at the Chauvet Cave, the oldest evidence of human art in Europe. And it’s beyond stunning.

I’m pinching myself.

I had no idea we’d be here. This is not a bucket list item for most people, but it assuredly is for me. I’ve worked with and studied human migration for 25 years now, and this cave is sacred.

Very few people inhabited what would be Europe 35K years ago. Those that did painted this cave, recording animals we had no idea lived here. They were probably the ancestors, one way or the other, of most Europeans and their descendants today.

As luck would have it, a friend of our guide that lives in her tiny village discovered the cave, so she knew exactly where it is – and showed me.

Better yet, I’m having lunch looking directly at the cave. I feel like I’m living a dream. First this stunning location and then to discover I sat myself in front of the cave.

I truly could not believe the incredible odds that I would accidentally manage, by happenstance, to wind up having lunch is a remote region of mountainous France, literally looking at Chauvet Cave immediately in front of me.

And, by luck of the draw, have a women from this area who knew exactly where the cave is as my tour guide – for a tour that originated maybe three hours away on the Rhone River.

Tell me my ancestors weren’t calling to me.

I sat spellbound, eating the artistic, beautiful food, in the best seat in all of the Ardèche Department in France.

I cannot take my eyes off of the limestone cliff wall – connecting with those people who walked there, perhaps my most distant ancestors in Europe, across 40,000 years. I wonder how those humans originally found the cave. Were they seeking shelter?

We had some free time, and I left the group and walked alone in the vineyard that stands as a silent sentry today. Did the people who painted the cave also cultivate any agriculture, or was that still too early in human history.

I was spellbound to this place and that time. Utterly transfixed.

I saw a path, and I had to explore. Isn’t that the story of my life. Is that what they did, too?

I walked towards the cave, which seems to beckon me. Perhaps the cave that sheltered humanity, allowing us to survive.

I feel like I’ve been drawn home to the cradle of European humanity – the wellspring of our shared human story. Hooked like an unwitting fish in the water and reeled right in by some powerful ancestral force.

I don’t know how to describe this surreal moment other than perhaps some combination of an out-of-body experience and transcendent state of flow. Time paused, or perhaps collapsed in on itself. The boundaries between then and now, and them and me, dissolved. It felt both ancient and present – beyond time as we understand it – an umbilical cord somehow inexplicably tethering us.

Words are entirely inadequate.

In this picture, you can see the steep access path, beneath the rocky ledge, and other caves as well.

You’ll notice other limestone caves all along the cliffs throughout the region, but none of those caves even hold a candle to Chauvet – and none were treated in the same way. Why was Chauvet special?

Caves aren’t easy to access. Either they are high on the cliff walls, requiring either rappelling down or climbing up through narrow paths, then fissured rocks.

Here’s a nearby limestone cave. And no, I did not go splunking. Being with a tour group does not afford that amount of flexibility – especially since the cave wasn’t even on the agenda at all. Plus, by this time, I was alone, and you NEVER embark on a risky adventure alone. I’ve been there, done that, and broke my ankle in the process. Plus, there was more to see.

I turned around and hiked down to the river to see what awaited there.

This area is extremely popular with kayakers who walk their kayaks down this path and launch just before the beautiful natural arch bridge which you can see, at left, above.

After reaching the water, I decided to hike on the path above and along the river, which afforded me a stunning view of the river, bridge and the mountains on both sides.

I suddenly realized that the river level 35,000 years ago was MUCH higher than it is today. It didn’t run beneath the arch, which hadn’t yet been hollowed out, but over the top, which meant the valley floor was also elevated.

OH!

The river is to my immediate right, and path in front of me continues straight to the mountains, or turns left to Chauvet. Isn’t that the perfect metaphor for life.

Standing at the intersection of the walk to the river, and the path alongside the river, you can see the bridge in the center, just to the right of the fence, the mountains on both sides, and Chauvet to the far left.

On this photo, I’ve marked both the top of the arch of the bridge, and the Chauvet cave, with red arrows. Based on the elevation, you can see that before the river carved the bridge, the landscape of the valley would not have been worn away, and human access to the cave would have been much different. In other words, the valley floor would have been much closer to the cave.

This makes so much sense.

As much as I wanted to stay, it was time for me to go.

I found it ironic that on the way back to join the group at the bus, I found this sign which, translated by ChatGPT, says:

The Invisible History of the Pont d’Arc

The arch of the Pont d’Arc is a unique natural monument in the world.
It has probably fascinated humanity for millennia.

Like a totem, it evokes a gateway between two worlds: the visible and the invisible, the familiar and the wild, mystery and knowledge.

Hidden within this setting is the decorated Chauvet-Pont d’Arc Cave,
classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

It has revealed to our amazed eyes drawings over 36,000 years old.

But did you know that this site holds other hidden stories?

By exploring the Combe d’Arc, discover the invisible stories sheltered by this majestic landscape:

• • how water sculpted, drop by drop, this mineral arch
  • how, over the ages, humans found their place in this extraordinary location

Introspective Journey

While the rest of our tour group had lunch, sandwiched between two other stops, plus some time to walk along the river and view the natural bridge, I had taken an amazing journey back in time and visited ancient humanity. The people who painted those incredible images in the Chauvet Cave are probably the ancestors of every European, assuming even one of them survived to reproduce, or the ancestors of no one today, if their lines perished.

One way or another, humanity did survive, and standing on this sacred site allows us, today, to glimpse a time far in the past – just as our mitochondrial and Y-DNA do as well.

Our own ancestors speak to us from long ago, and the mutations we carry from them light the way back in time, through the Ardeche and the mountainous regions of France, expanding into the rest of Europe.

A priceless window in time.

Indeed, as Eliette exclaimed, “They have been here,” and perhaps they still are, in us.

Resources

If you’re interested, I found three YouTube videos that expand upon the Chauvet Cave.

• The recreated Chauvet Cave that you can visit.
• Chauvet Cave: Unlocking France’s Prehistoric past
• Chauvet Cave: Preserving prehistoric art – BBC News

My one regret is that I didn’t know about the Cavern du Pont-d’Arc, a vast to-scale reproduction of the Chauvet Cave. I would have found a way to visit, even if I had to hire a private driver for a day.

___________________________________________________________

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