The cave was named after Jean-Marie Chauvet , who discovered it on December 18,1994 , together with Christian Hillaire and Eliette Brunel-Deschamps . The cave was first explored on December 18 , 1994 by a group of three speleologists : Eliette Brunel-Deschamps , Christian Hillaire , and Jean-Marie Chauvet , for whom it was named .