First studied by the French archaeologist Henri-Édouard-Prosper Breuil, the Lascaux grotto consists of a main cavern 66 feet wide and 16 feet high. The walls of the cavern are decorated with some 600 painted and drawn animals and symbols and nearly 1,500 engravings. The pictures depict in excellent detail numerous types of animals, including horses, red deer, stags, bovines, felines, and what appear to be mythical creatures. There is only one human figure depicted in the cave: a bird-headed man with an erect phallus. Archaeologists believe that the cave was used over a long period of time as a center for hunting and religious rites.
Lascaux cave was discovered in 1940 September 12 by 4 teenagers, who were travelling around France with their dog named Robot. Suddenly the dog ran down as he smelt something special. 4 teenagers ran after him to catch it, but they realized that they came to a very special place. Boys removed the big stone which closed the cave. When they entered, they found an amazing old pictures in cave wall. However some people say that Robot wasn`t the one that discovered the cave though teenagers already knew about the cave. Soon the boys decided to tell their schoolteacher, Leon Laval, about their discovery. They knew Laval was interested in archaeology and would know what to do about their fantastic find.
After its discovery, the artwork of the cave amazed the world, and brought more than a million visitors to Lascaux between 1948