The Gorges de l'Ardèche is made up of a series of gorges in the 'Ardèche 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.
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 is the Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc cave where the paintings have been carbon-dated to approx 37,000 years old.