Marsoulas Cave

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Excavation campaign 1931
" Bison of Marsoulas " (replica)
Shell of a marine snail from the Marsoulas cave
Pendant from the Magdalenian in Gagat

The Marsoulas Cave is a rocky cave only 50 meters long in the French Pyrenees near the village of Marsoulas in the Haute-Garonne department . As early as 1897, prehistoric rock carvings were discovered in the cave. The cave is not open to visitors - a replica of a short section of the murals can be found in the Parc pyrénéen de l'art préhistorique in Tarascon-sur-Ariège .

location

The entrance to the cave is at a height of about 310 meters. The next larger town, Salies-du-Salat , is about 1.5 kilometers to the west; the closest town is Saint-Gaudens - it's about 18 miles to the west.

history

Investigations were carried out in the cave as early as 1883, but it was not until 14 years later that the first, mostly monochrome, paintings or drawings were noticed on the walls and ceiling of the cave - they were the first in the Pyrenees. In 1902 Abbé Breuil inspected the cave and discovered further pictures as well as some prehistoric tools etc. The finds are now attributed to the prehistoric periods of the Aurignacia as well as the Azilien and Magdalenian periods .

Rock art

The animals depicted are bison, horses, deer and ibex. In addition, there were some of the - still puzzling - abstract structures such as "squares", "combs" etc. Most animals can only be recognized by their outlines; the body of the famous "bison of Marsoulas" , on the other hand, is dotted in red with the fingertips or with small branches on the wall.

Other finds

Bone and stone tools were discovered in the bottom layers of the cave - including two 5.2 cm long spearheads made of deer antler. Perhaps the most important find was the shell of a sea snail. Most of the finds are in the Muséum de Toulouse .

literature

  • Émile Cartailhac: Note on the dessins préhistoriques de la grotte de Marsoulas. Comptes-rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, 46e année, N. 5, 1902, p. 478ff.
  • Jacques-François Comte de Bégouën, James Townsend Russel: La campagne de fouilles de 1931 à Marsoulas, Tarté et Roquecourbère. Edouard Privat, Toulouse 1933.
  • Fritz C., Willis M, Tosello G .: Reconstructing Paleolithic cave art: The example of Marsoulas Cave (France) , Journal of Archaeological Science , Reports 2016, 10, pp. 910-916. doi: 10.1016 / j.jasrep.2016.05.012, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2016.05.012
  • Méroc L .: La grotte de Marsoulas (Haute-Garonne) , Toulouse: Les Frères Douladoure, 1948.
  • André Leroi-Gourhan : Prehistoric Art - The Origins of Art in Europe. Herder, Freiburg 1982, ISBN 978-3-451-16281-7 .

Web links

Commons : Cave of Marsoulas  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 43 ° 6 ′ 11 ″  N , 0 ° 59 ′ 10 ″  E