Henri Cosquer Cave
| Henri Cosquer Cave
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| Location: | Marseille , France | |
| Height : | 37 m below sea level | |
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Geographic location: |
43 ° 12 '10 " N , 5 ° 26' 57" E | |
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| Discovery: | 1985 | |
| Particularities: | Access below sea level | |
The Henri Cosquer Cave or Cosquer Grotto is located southeast of Marseille on Cap Morgiou . The cave paintings discovered there belong to the Franco-Cantabrian cave art .
description
The entrance to the cave is in the Calanque de la Triperie 37 m below sea level and can therefore only be reached by divers .
The flooded entrance leads to a higher dry cave room with about 19,000 to 27,000 year old cave paintings and cave drawings from the Gravettien (hand negatives) and from the Solutréen , which u. a. Seals , fish , horses , bison , seals , ibex as well as giant alks and other sea birds show.
history
The cave was first dived in 1985 by Henri Cosquer . With his companions he has done several dives in this cave over the course of months. After he had pushed himself deeper and deeper into the entrance tube in several dives, he discovered cave paintings in July 1991. In the same year, after initial scientific research, the discovery of the cave was officially announced. It is under nature protection, and visiting it is strictly prohibited.
The entrance to the cave was at the end of the Würm Ice Age , i.e. at the time of use, about 80 m above the water level and about 11 km from the coast. This changed when sea levels rose sharply from the thawing of the polar ice caps.
See also
literature
- Henri Cosquer: La Grotte Cosquer: Plongée dans la Préhistoire , Ed. Solar, o. O., 1992, ISBN 2-263-01943-X
- Jean Clottes et Jean Courtin: La Grotte Cosquer: Peintures et Gravures de la Caverne engloutie , Ed. Seuil, Paris, 1994, ISBN 2-02-019820-7
- Jean Clottes and Jean Courtin : Grotte Cosquer near Marseille , Jan Thorbecke Verlag, Stuttgart 1995, ISBN 3-7995-9001-3 .
Web links
Calanque de la Triperie
Hand negative
Cross section through the cave
