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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

Abri Castanet in Sergeac
Abris sous roche
24290 Sergeac

The Castanet shelter, in Sergeac, Dordogne, is a prehistoric site of the Upper Paleolithic listed historical monument, famous for its Aurignacian engravings among the oldest in the world.
Caves of Gargas in Aventignan
Grotte ornée
65660 Aventignan

Gargas Caves, located in Aventignan, Occitanie, are a prehistoric site famous for its 231 negative handprints of the Upper Paleolithic, some with incomplete fingers, and its animal engravings.
Grotte d'habitation et shelter sous rois de la Crouzade à Gruissan
Abris sous roche
11430 Gruissan

The Crouzade Cave, located near Gruissan in the Aude, is a prehistoric rock shelter classified as a historical monument, famous for its Azilian painted pebbles and its neolithic Mussterian remains.
Leucate Fairy Cave
Grotte préhistorique
11370 Leucate

The Leucate Fairy Cave, located near the pond in the Aude, is a Gallo-Roman and Chalcolithic archaeological site classified historical monument since 1924.
Cave of Marsoulas
Grotte ornée
31260 Marsoulas

The cave of Marsoulas, known as the Cave of the Fairies, is a cave adorned with the Upper Paleolithic located in Marsoulas, Occitanie, famous for its paintings and parietal engravings depicting bisons, horses and geometric signs, classified as a historical monument since 1910.
Cave du Renard in Marseille
Grotte
13009 Marseille 9ème

The Renard Cave, located in Marseille 9th in the Bouches-du-Rhône, is an underwater cavity classified as a historical monument since 1992, dating from the Paleolithic and integrated into the calanques massif.
Labastide Horse Cave
Grotte ornée
65130 Labastide

Labastide Horse Cave, located in the Hautes-Pyrénées in Occitanie, is a Magdalenian adorned cave famous for its parietal art and archeoacoustic phenomena, classified as a historical monument in 1983.
Aurignac's prehistoric cave
Abris sous roche
31420 Aurignac

The prehistoric shelter of Aurignac, in Upper Garonne, is an archaeological deposit of the Upper Paleolithic having given its name to the Aurignacian culture. Ranked a historic monument in 1921, it bears witness to the first human occupation in Europe 35,000 years ago.