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A prehistoric cave in southern France containing the world's earliest known art has been awarded World Heritage status.

The Grotte Chauvet in the Ardeche region, which survived sealed off for millennia before its discovery in 1994, contains more than 1,000 drawings dating back some 36,000 years to what is believed to be the first human culture in Europe.

Delegates at UNESCO's World Heritage Committee voted to grant the status to the cave at a gathering in Doha.

A prehistoric cave in southern France containing the world's earliest known art has been awarded World Heritage status

The cave in the Ardeche region, which survived sealed off for millennia before its discovery in 1994, contains more than 1,000 drawings dating back some 36,000

The drawings - including equine syle-etchings - hark back to what is believed to be the first human culture in Europe.

A French lawmaker for the Ardeche, Pascal Terrasse, described the cave as 'a first cultural act'.

'This artist has now been recognised,' Terrasse said. 'May he forgive us for waiting 36,000 years.'

French Culture Minister Aurelie Filippetti called the cave 'a major site for humanity' that provides an exceptional opportunity for study.

It is 'a jewel whose emotional power is as strong today as when it was conceived,' she said in a statement.

UNESCO said the Grotte Chauvet 'contains the earliest and best-preserved expressions of artistic creation of the Aurignacian people, which are also the earliest known figurative drawings in the world'.

UNESCO said the Grotte Chauvet 'contains the earliest and best-preserved expressions of artistic creation of the Aurignacian people'

French Culture Minister Aurelie Filippetti called the cave 'a major site for humanity' that provides an exceptional opportunity for study'

The opening of the cave, located about 25 metres (yards) underground, was closed off by a rockfall 23,000 years ago. It lay undisturbed until it was found by three French cave experts and almost immediately declared a protected heritage site in France

'The large number of over 1,000 drawings covering over 8,500 square metres (90,000 square feet), as well as their high artistic and aesthetic quality, make Grotte Chauvet an exceptional testimony of prehistoric cave art.'

The opening of the cave, located about 25 metres (yards) underground, was closed off by a rockfall 23,000 years ago.

It lay undisturbed until it was found by three French cave experts and almost immediately declared a protected heritage site in France.

'Its state of preservation and authenticity is exceptional as a result of its concealment over 23 millennia,' UNESCO said.

Researchers believe the cave was never permanently inhabited by humans 'but was instead of a sacred character' and 'used for shamanist ritual practice'

The painted images include representations of human hands and of dozens of animals, including mammoth, wild cats, rhinos, bison, bears and aurochs

Access has since been severely restricted and fewer than 200 researchers a year are allowed to visit the cave, which stretches into several branches along about 800 metres and at its highest reaches 18 metres.

The painted images include representations of human hands and of dozens of animals, including mammoth, wild cats, rhinos, bison, bears and aurochs.

The paintings are more than twice as old as those in the famed Lascaux caves also in southern France and more discoveries are expected to be found in remote parts of the cave as yet unexplored.

The cave also includes remnants and prints of ancient animals, including those of large cave bears that are believed to have hibernated at the site.

Researchers believe the cave was never permanently inhabited by humans 'but was instead of a sacred character' and 'used for shamanist ritual practice'.

Gilles Tosello, a graphic artist and researcher, works on full-scale reproduction of frescos of the cave of Pont-D'Arc (also known as the Chauvet cave)

His work will then be used in a replica of the original cave, which will open to the public at the end of 2014

The Chauvet Cave, located in the Ardeche region of southern France, has the oldest-known cave paintings, with handprints and depictions of horses and other animals dated to around 30,000-32,000 years ago

Over 1,000 images have so far been inventoried on its walls, combining a variety of anthropomorphic and animal motifs

The cave was closed off by a rock fall approximately 20,000 years BP and remained sealed until its discovery in 1994, which helped keep it in pristine condition

With the cave itself closed to the public, authorities are building a full-scale replica of the site nearby, which is expected to open in the spring of 2015.

The Paris-based United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization oversees the system of granting coveted World Heritage Site status to important cultural and natural sites.

Obtaining the status for sites is a point of pride for many nations and can boost tourism, but it comes with strict conservation rules.

UNESCO delegates are meeting for 10 days in Doha to consider the inscription of 40 sites on the World Heritage List and issue warnings over already-listed locations that may be in danger.

Other sites given the status this year include a vast Inca road system spanning six countries and ancient terraces in the West Bank that are under threat from the Israeli separation barrier.