Grotto du Cuzoul
The Grotte du Cuzoul (also Grotte du Cuzoul des Brasconnies or Grotte de Bar ) is a prehistoric cave northeast of Blars in the Lot department in France . The cave cannot be visited.
The recently discovered cave was mentioned in 1831 by Jacques-Antoine Delpon (1788-1833), explored in 1890 by Édouard-Alfred Martel (1859-1938) and searched again in 1923 by Armand Viré . Two small ceramic fragments with prehistoric and proto-historical inscriptions were found later.
In 1963, visitors to the Speleo Club of Saint-Cere discovered traces of paintings on a wall. This discovery left the explorers skeptical at first because the cave had already been searched several times. But they were convinced that the pictures were old. The proximity of the Pech Merle cave puts Cuzoul des Brasconnies on a par with the caves in the Célé valley .
The cave is at a height of about 300 m, on the very edge of a plateau with a view of a small dry valley. It begins with an erosion funnel about 30 meters long and about 15 meters deep. Behind it, a corridor leads to a kind of anteroom, which is connected by a very low corridor to a large room that Armand Viré called the Georgina Hall in 1897. A vertical corridor leads from this hall to a lower room called the Rupinsaal.
The anteroom and the Georgina hall were used by the Gauls . The floor was found full of potsherds and a barrier wall made of dry stone . The remains found during the 1923 excavation were dated back to the Hallstatt period , between 900 and 500 BC. BC, dated.
According to Michel Lorblanchet , the cave paintings discovered in 1963 date from the Neolithic Age, while Abbé Glory classified them as the Metal Age, probably Halstatt.
The cave was registered as a monument historique in 1994 .
Nearby is the Dolmen du Rat .
Web links
- Site archéologique de la grotte du Cuzoul des Brasconnies in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French)
- Description and pictures (French)
Coordinates: 44 ° 34 ′ 44 " N , 1 ° 44 ′ 40.5" E