Logo Musée du Patrimoine

All French heritage classified by regions, departments and cities

Castles and Military Heritage Religious heritage Industrial heritage Heritage of cities Archaeological heritage Museums Attractions and tourist attractions The most beautiful villages The most beautiful monuments in France

Caves and shelters in France

Neandertal men, then homo-sapiens and especially Magdalenians, have always been sheltered in the natural habitats of caves and rock shelters. Archaeologists find many traces of these prehistoric habitats accumulated in successive layers.

It is in these caves that we find ornaments as in the caves of Lascaux, Chauvet. All these testimonies take the form of drawings, paintings, engravings, sculptures executed on the walls.


Sélection de 8 caves and sub-rock shelters sur 138 en France

Puymartin Cave

24620 Marquay

The Puymartin Cave, located in Marquay, New Aquitaine, is a prehistoric site of the Paleolithic with an equine bas-relief, classified as a Historic Monument since 1995.
Gisement en grotto de la Font-Bargeix

24340 Mareuil en Périgord

The Font-Bargeix Cave, located in Mareuil in Périgord, is a prehistoric deposit of the Upper Paleolithic with magdalenian parietal representations.
Prehistoric cave called Fronsac

24340 Mareuil en Périgord

The Fronsac Cave, located in Mareuil-en-Périgord, is a prehistoric site of the Upper Paleolithic, famous for its prints and rock drawings of an animal and human nature.
Cave and deposit of the Ear of Hell

24620 aux Eyzies

The Oreille d'Enfer cave is a prehistoric deposit of the Upper Paleolithic, located in the Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireuil in Dordogne, classified as a Historical Monument since 1932.
Cave of the castle of Comarque

24620 aux Eyzies

The Commarque Cave, located in the Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireuil in the Dordogne, is a prehistoric cave of the Upper Paleolithic, classified as a historical monument. It houses Magdalenian engravings and sculptures, including a famous horse in bas-relief, at the foot of Commarque castle.
Mouthe cave containing prehistoric paintings

24620 aux Eyzies

The Mouthe Cave, located in the Eyzies-de-Tayac in New Aquitaine, is a cave decorated with the Upper Paleolithic with more than 200 prehistoric engravings and paintings, classified at UNESCO.
Croze Cave

24620 aux Eyzies

The Croze Cave, classified as a Historical Monument, is a prehistoric site of the Upper Paleolithic located in the Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireuil, Dordogne, famous for its archaeological heritage.
Abzac Cave

24620 aux Eyzies

The Abzac Cave is a prehistoric site of the Upper Paleolithic region located in the Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireuil, Dordogne, classified as a Historic Monument since 1934.