Les Combarelles, Pech-Merle caves

The next two days, on this south of France journey, we ventured into two more natural caves that had been open to the air for thousands of years. Like Font-de-Gaume, the caves were preserved as much as possible, once their significance was realized, with minimal lighting used sparingly and floor gratings to protect gravel and stone paths. Tour guides were equipped with laser pointers to designate the outlines of the paintings and etchings.

Note: I didn’t take photos in the caves. The following images are from Wikimedia Commons, an Internet source of photos in the public domain.

Les Combarelles

The two galleries in Les Combarelles have over 600 instances of Magdalenian engravings, from around 13,000 years ago. The cave was used as a stable by locals who found artifacts, but was not explored by pre-historians until 1901. It has been recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site as part of the Prehistoric Sites and Decorated Caves of the Vézère Valley. The drawings below were made by Abbé Henri Breuil.

Pech-Merle

Formed by an underground river, Pech-Merle cave covers two levels. The cave art appears in the deeper areas, discovered in 1922 by exploring local teens. It has been open to the public since 1926. As well as paintings and etchings of animals, including the beautiful dappled horses, there are many stenciled human handprints, dots and other symbols. There were also a few stick-figure drawings of humans with lines coming out of them, possibly speared, referred to in the literature as a “killed man”. Footprints of children were found preserved in rock that was once clay.

Paintings and engravings have been dated from 27,000 years ago, the Gravettian era, although some may date from 14,000 years ago, the Magdalenian period. The cave was declared a French Historical Monument in 1952. The museum shows videos of additional images in inaccessible areas inside the cave.

How moving it was to hold up one’s hand, without actually touching, of course, to the hand of a prehistoric artist, probably the hand that created some of the art in this cave!

The Amédée Lemozi Prehistory Museum is next door to the Pech-Merle cave. Named for a French archaeologist, it displays recreations of many of the other nearby caves currently closed to the public. These images are from Grotte de Cougnac.