Vallon-Pont-d'Arc

The canton of Vallon-Pont-d'Arc (French: Canton de Vallon-Pont-d'Arc) is an administrative division of the Ardèche department, southern France. Its borders were modified at the canton reorganisation that came into effect in March 2015. Its seat is Vallon-Pont-d'Arc.

The Ibie is a 33.1 km (20.6 mi) long river in the Ardèche département, southeastern France. Its source is at Saint-Jean-le-Centenier, 2 km (1.2 mi) south of the village. It flows generally south-southwest, through the northern part of the Côtes du Vivarais AOC. It is a left tributary of the Ardèche into which it flows at Vallon-Pont-d'Arc, 1.8 km (1.1 mi) southeast of the village.

Salavas (French pronunciation: [salavas]; Occitan: Salavàs) is a commune in the Ardèche department in southern France.

The Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc Cave (French: Grotte Chauvet-Pont d'Arc [ɡʁɔt ʃovɛ pɔ̃ daʁk]) in the Ardèche department of southeastern France is a cave that contains some of the best-preserved figurative cave paintings in the world, as well as other evidence of Upper Paleolithic life. It is located near the commune of Vallon-Pont-d'Arc on a limestone cliff above the former bed of the river Ardèche, in the Gorges de l'Ardèche. Discovered on December 18, 1994, it is considered one of the most significant prehistoric art sites and the UN's cultural agency UNESCO granted it World Heritage status on June 22, 2014. The cave was first explored by a group of three speleologists: Eliette Brunel-Deschamps, Christian Hillaire, and Jean-Marie Chauvet (for whom the cave was named) six months after an aperture now known as "Le Trou de Baba" ('Baba's Hole') was discovered by Michel Rosa (Baba). At a later date the group returned to the cave. Another member of this group, Michel Chabaud, along with two others, travelled further into the cave and discovered the Gallery of the Lions, the End Chamber. Chauvet has his own detailed account of the discovery. In addition to the paintings and other human evidence, they also discovered fossilized remains, prints, and markings from a variety of animals, some of which are now extinct. Further study by French archaeologist Jean Clottes has revealed much about the site. The dates have been a matter of dispute, but a study published in 2012 supports placing the art in the Aurignacian period, approximately 32,000–30,000 years ago. A study published in 2016 using an additional 88 radiocarbon dates showed two periods of habitation, one 37,000 to 33,500 years ago and the second from 31,000 to 28,000 years ago, with most of the black drawings dating to the earlier period.

The Caverne du Pont-d'Arc, Chauvet 2, is a replica of the Chauvet Cave in the commune of Vallon-Pont-d'Arc, in the department of Ardèche and in the Rhône-Alpes region of France. Construction began in October 2012 and it was opened to the public in 2015.

The Pont d'Arc (French pont = bridge) is a large natural bridge, located in the Ardèche département in the south of France, 5 km from the town of Vallon-Pont-d'Arc. The arch, formed when the river Ardèche broke through a narrow escarpment between its meander, is 59 metres (194 ft) wide and 34 m (112 ft) high at the top of the opening. It is a very popular canoeing and kayaking area and is heavily visited by tourists. It is usually described as the natural entrance to the Ardèche Canyon. In the near vicinity of the arch is the Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc Cave, containing one of the earliest known Paleolithic cave paintings, about 30,000 years old (featured in the 2010 documentary Cave of Forgotten Dreams by film director Werner Herzog).

Lagorce (French pronunciation: [laɡɔʁs]; Occitan: La Gòrça) is a commune in the Ardèche department in southern France.

Sampzon (French pronunciation: [sɑ̃zɔ̃]) is a commune in the Ardèche department in southern France.

Labastide-de-Virac (French pronunciation: [labastid də viʁak]; Occitan: La Bastida de Virac) is a commune in the southern French department of Ardèche. It features a fort dating to the 16th century.

Vagnas is a commune in the Ardèche department in southern France.

The Gorges de l'Ardèche is made up of a series of gorges in the river and locally known as the "European Grand Canyon", Located in the Ardèche, in the French department Ardèche, forming a thirty-kilometre long canyon running from Vallon-Pont-d'Arc to Saint-Martin-d'Ardèche. The lower part of the gorge forms the boundary between the Ardèche department and the Gard department. The canyon is a tourist attraction, drawing over a million visitors per year, in addition to a rich historical and archeological site. Most of the canyon is protected; it is governed by the Réserve Naturelle Gorges de l'Ardèche. Notable sights along the canyon include the Pont d'Arc at the beginning of the canyon, a natural arch 60 m wide and 54 m high. Much of the canyon is inaccessible except by water, and canoeing and kayaking are popular sports on the river. Overnight camping is not allowed, except for at two bivouac shelters. The cliffs offer habitat to rare birds such as the Bonelli's eagle. (As of 2013 there were only two pairs in the Ardèche, and no more than thirty in all of France.) Humans have lived in caves in the area for over 300,000 years. Over 2,000 caves are found in the gorge, some of them painted; the best-known painted cave in the gorge is the Chauvet Cave.

The aven d'Orgnac is a cave located to the south of the limestone plateau of the Gorges de l'Ardèche, in the commune of Orgnac-l'Aven in the department of Ardèche, in the region Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, and Issirac in the Gard department, in the Occitanie region. Remarkable for the very large volumes of its rooms and its varied Concretions, it was destined for tourism and is now classified a Grand Site de France. The archaeological site of Orgnac III, occupied since the final Acheulean, is one of the oldest known archaeological sites to have yielded lithic industry using the Levallois technique.