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  2. Patrimoine
  3. Nouvelle-Aquitaine
  4. Landes
  5. 40330 Brassempouy

  6. Pope's Cave in Brassempouy

 Pope's Cave in Brassempouy dans les Landes

Patrimoine classé
Vestiges préhistoriques
Grotte
Grotte préhistorique
Landes

Pope's Cave in Brassempouy

    411 Chemin de Coummariou
    40330 Brassempouy
Grotte du Pape à Brassempouy
Grotte du Pape à Brassempouy : Dame de Brassempouy ou Dame à la capuche
Grotte du Pape à Brassempouy
Grotte du Pape à Brassempouy
Grotte du Pape à Brassempouy
Grotte du Pape à Brassempouy
Grotte du Pape à Brassempouy
Grotte du Pape à Brassempouy
Grotte du Pape à Brassempouy
Grotte du Pape à Brassempouy
Grotte du Pape à Brassempouy
Grotte du Pape à Brassempouy
Grotte du Pape à Brassempouy
Grotte du Pape à Brassempouy
Grotte du Pape à Brassempouy
Grotte du Pape à Brassempouy
Grotte du Pape à Brassempouy
Grotte du Pape à Brassempouy
Grotte du Pape à Brassempouy
Grotte du Pape à Brassempouy
Grotte du Pape à Brassempouy
Grotte du Pape à Brassempouy
Grotte du Pape à Brassempouy
Grotte du Pape à Brassempouy
Grotte du Pape à Brassempouy
Grotte du Pape à Brassempouy
Grotte du Pape à Brassempouy
Grotte du Pape à Brassempouy
Grotte du Pape à Brassempouy
Crédit photo : Dame de Brassempouy - Sous licence Creative Commons

Timeline

XIXe siècle
Époque contemporaine
1900
2000
1880
Discovery of the cave
1892
Discovery of The Pear
1894
Discovery of the Lady of Brassempouy
13 août 1980
Historical Monument
2012
Donation to the municipality
2013-2015
Extension of protection
Aujourd'hui
Aujourd'hui

Heritage classified

The Grotto of the Pope (cad. E 565): classification by decree of 13 August 1980 - The prehistoric caves of the Pouy, in total, with their various cavities, the Dubalen shelter, the Mégacéros gallery and the Hyènes cave (cad. WK 36, placedit Pouy): inscription by decree of 19 September 2013. The entire caves of the Pouy (including the Dubalen shelter, the Mégacéros gallery and the Hyena cave) with the floor and basement of Parcel No.36, section WK of the cadastre, which contains them, with the exception of the Pope's cave, private property, already classified, in Brassempouy (Landes) is classified under MH by order of 6 May 2015 (in accordance with the annexed plan). Parcel No.36, section WK of the cadastre of a capacity of 44 to 26 ca, belongs to the municipality of Brassempouy (Landes) by act of donation between live received on 2 November 2012 and published in the office of mortgages of Mont-de-Marsan (Landes) on 29 November 2012, volume P n° 857. Extension of protection presented before the CRPS of 18 April 2013.

Key figures

Pierre-Eudoxe Dubalen - Archaeologist First excavations (1880–81).
Joseph de Laporterie - Archaeologist Searches (1890–97), co-discoverer of the Lady.
Édouard Piette - Prehistory Searches (1894–97), study of statuettes.
Henri Delporte - Archaeologist Searches (1981–1994), analysis of collections.
Dominique Henry-Gambier - Archaeologist Searches (1997–2004), study of human remains.

Origin and history

The Pope's Cave, located in Brassempouy in the Landes (New Aquitaine), is an exceptional archaeological deposit of the Upper Paleolithic. It is distinguished by its ivory objects, including ornaments and famous Paleolithic Venus such as La Poire (1892) and the Lady of Brassempouy (1894). These discoveries, made during excavations between 1880 and 1897, reveal a workshop for the manufacture of statuettes in a well preserved stratigraphic layer, reflecting an intense human occupation during the Aurignacian and the Gravettien.

The site, dug in an eocene limestone by the stream of Pouy, comprises four entrances occupied in prehistory: the Hyena cave, the Mégacéros gallery, the Dubalen shelter and the Pope's cave. The 19th century excavations revealed lithic tools (burins of Noailles, peaks of Vachons) and organic remains, despite the acidity of the soil. Subsequent archaeological campaigns (1981-2004) confirmed the importance of the site in understanding the first cultural expressions of modern men in Western Europe.

The Pope's cave has been listed as a Historic Monument since 1980, and all the cavities of the Pouy (including the caves of the Hyenas and the Mégacéros) were protected in 2013 and classified in 2015. Archaeological collections, deposited at the Musée d'archéologie nationale de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, illustrate occupations ranging from Châtelperronien to Magdalenien. The site remains a scientific reference for the study of prehistoric societies, thanks in particular to its emblematic female statuettes and its bone and cervid wood furniture.

The systematic excavations, carried out by figures such as Pierre-Eudoxe Dubalen, Édouard Piette, or Henri Delporte, helped to reconstruct the occupation phases of the site. The WK 36 parcel, including several cavities, was transferred to the municipality of Brassempouy in 2012, consolidating its preservation. Today, the Pope's cave and its karst network offer a unique testimony to lifestyles, craft techniques and symbolic practices of hunter-gatherers of the Upper Paleolithic region of Aquitaine.

External links

Page Wikipedia
Page Monumentum