Annette Marie Fort
Anthropology 305
Section One
January 27, 2004

The web site “The cave of Chauvet-Pont-D’Arch” found at http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/arcnat/chauvet/en/index.html is a multi-layered and visually pleasing informational website. The cover page of this website is attractive to look at and the text is clear and easy to read. This page provides menus that allow the user to select one of three languages or which area of information that the user would like concerning the cave. The page also links to the French Ministry of culture and communication home page. The web page “The cave of Chauvet-Pont-D’Arch” is produced by the Ministry of culture and communication.
On this page you can find links to other archeology web pages, and a link to a news page with dated articles, and also research and legal news regarding the caves. There is also a link to acknowledgements that gives credit to the people and organizations that have contributed to the web page. There is also a link that takes you to a map that allows you to click on different points to see various photographs and the information concerning the photographs.
The Main menu in the center of the page provides you with four choices which concern themselves with different types of information on the cave. The first choice is “The cave today” which is further broken down in to choices of information on the discovery, authentication and preservation of the caves. The next choice provides information on the research such as who did the research, how the research was carried out and who supported it. The “Time and Place” selection provides information on geographic context, dating methods and archeological context. The “Witness” section links to information on various people who have been invited to see the cave.
All the information provided on these pages seems to be accurate when compared to other sources such as the text for this course and the sites for Archeology and National Geographic magazines. Another reason why the information should be good is because the site is put out by the Ministry of Culture and Communication. Also the people and organizations listed in the credits and witness sections can also be checked against.
The text is easy to read and clear, and the headings and titles found throughout the site are appropriate and descriptive. This allows for fairly easy navigation through the site. Also the images are appropriate, interesting, attractive, and accompanied for the most part with informational captions and references. One problem with is site is the small menu on the page devoted to research methods that can be found in small blue text in the upper right hand corner might be missed if the user is not looking. The is also a small two to three choice menu depending on the page you are on in the upper left hand side of the page. This is also quite small and blends in to the background; the only thing that makes it stand out is that the menu is two or three small symbols instead of text. When a mouse is moved over the symbols text indicating what the symbols mean appear below. One of these symbols is a question mark and if you click on this you are taken to a page with links to the various areas and there parts. This allows for easy navigation of the site.
The information is given on this website is correct and presented in a format that is interesting and easy to read, but does not distract from the information. The images are appropriate and presented in a way that compliments the text. Site navigation if fairly simple and if the user has a difficulty the site map or index found by clicking on the question mark makes finding information on this site straight forward. After considering things such as the information and images available and the presentation of the site itself, this website shows it to be a very well done and informative web page.



References Cited
The cave of Chauvet-Pont-D’Arch. Electronic document,
http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/arcnat/chauvet/en/index.html , accessed January25, 2004

Chippindale, Christopher and Tacon Paul S.C. (Editors)
2002 The Archaeology of Rock-Art. Cambridge University Press,
Cambridge.

Archaeology. Electronic document,
http://www.archaeology.org/ , accessed January 25, 2004

Nationalgeographic.com. Electronic document,
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ . Accessed January 25, 2004