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Scientific News
The History of the exploration of the cave
of Pech Merle
Geological history of the cave of Pech Merle
[1992
Direct dating of prehistoric paintings in
the Cougnac cave, Lot]
[1995 Direct dating of
prehistoric paintings in the Pech Merle cave, Lot]
[1998 Pech Merle cave,
renovation of the "Ossuary"; an engraved bone is discovered]
[1998 Pestillac : a new decorated cave discovered in the
Quercy region]
A Year at Pech Merle (a very simple chronology)
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1992 Direct dating of prehistoric paintings in the Cougnac cave, Lot. |
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In 1990 and 1992, some samples were taken by Michel Lorblanchet and Mrs Hélène Valladas from black paintings in the Cougnac cave (Lot region). Especially from the megaloceros pannel (giant antlers deer) and some finger-made dots. In
1992, Mrs Hélène Valladas and her team (CNRS laboratory in Gif sur Yvette,
close to Paris) obtained radiocarbone dates with these samples :
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1995 Direct dating of prehistoric paintings in the Pech Merle cave, Lot. |
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In 1995, with the help of a team of
specialists (physicists, geologists, etc), Michel Lorblanchet studied some
samples of black colour from the "dotted horses" painting of the Pech Merle
cave.
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1998 Pech
Merle cave, renovation of the "Ossuary"; an
engraved bone is discovered. |
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drawings by Jean Claude Faurie |
The "Ossuary"
is the name of a small hall in the Pech Merle cave. This room was fitted up for visitors in 1926. As it is rather small (34 m by 22) and the dome is rather low (about 1 or 2 m high), a path was made by dugging some trenches in the clay. So one can see 18 piles of bones and 3 blocks of clay close to the trenches. When the Combel galleries were discovered (in 1950), the visit to this room was canceled. In 1998, Jean Claude Faurie, a guide at the Pech Merle cave, began to renovate the Ossuary room, with a permission for excavations. The old rusted wire netting, iron stakes, are taken away and the floor is overlaid with sand and gravel. He took a sample of bones (580 pieces). 118 of these have been marked, studied and drawn. The bones are from bears, cervidae, reindeers, horses, hyenas, lions, aurochs, bison (study : Dominique Armand, from the Prehistory and Geology Institute in Bordeaux).
A piece of bone is engraved with regular
man-made notches. It is the fist time that a decorated artifact is found in a deep painted cave in the Quercy region.
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1998 Pestillac : a new decorated cave discovered in the Quercy region |
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Stylized feminine figure
photograph : Julien Sentis
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Each year,
a new prehistoric painted cave is found in France and in Spain. The cave is horizontal. It is a narrow winding passage, about 90 metres long and less than 1.5 metres high. There are several dozens engravings. Some of them (about 20) have been identified : horses, cervidae, a bird, some signs, and at least five stylized feminine figures. The latter, engraved without drawing the head, are well-known in different sites in Europe (said "Gönnesdorf" feminine figures). Now, the entrance of the cave is protected, and Julien Sentis is responsible for the entire study of both cave and engravings. This discovery is an important one, as far as rock-art in the caves of the Quercy region is concerned. Because the Pestillac cave is alone in its area, and rather far from some other painted caves : Cassegros (30 km in the West), Cougnac (35 km in the North-East), Pech Merle (45 km in the East).
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