It was found in 1994 by Jean-Marie Chauvet, Eliette Brunel Deschamps and Christian Hillaire, three recreational speleologists, i.e., people who search for and explore caves for scientific purposes, combining skills in fields of chemistry, biology, geology, physics, meteorology and cartography.

In their book, , published in 1996, the three write about their initial search of the cave system and how it felt to come upon the Lion Panel with its overlapping portraits of nearly a dozen big cats advancing leftward across the rock wall toward a crowd of bison and other animals:

Suddenly our lamps lit up a monumental black frieze that covered 30 feet of the left-hand wall.  It took our breath away as, silently, we played our torches over its panels.  There was a burst of joy and tears.  We felt gripped by madness and dizziness