In 1866, Félix Garrigou, an archaeologist from Ariège, visited the cave of Niaux but was unable to interpret the paintings. In his notebook, he only wrote that he found funny drawings made by amateur artists and did not make a connection with parietal art. The existence of prehistoric cave art was, indeed, not officially accepted by the scientific community until 1902. It was not until September 1906 that the records of Commander Molard and his two sons dated the antiquity of the paintings of the Niaux cave. The commander and his sons then warned Émile Cartailhac, professor at the University of Toulouse and prehistorian, of their discovery. He authenticated the paintings and undertook their study with the young Abbot Henri Breuil, with whom he published a first paper in the journal L'Anthropologie in 1908.