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Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Cave of the Lion's Head is an adorned cave discovered in March 1963 during a mine fire for the construction of departmental D 290, near Bidon, in the south of the Ardèche. The speleologists Robert Brun and Michel Pagès explored as early as 15 March 1963, revealing a wall panel decorated with parietal figures. Ranked a historic monument on 15 June 1964, its access was preserved by changing the road route, thus avoiding the destruction of the rock bar that housed it. Excavations carried out in 1972 and 1973, followed by studies in 2009 and 2022, allowed him to refine his dating and study his problematic access to the Paleolithic.

The name of the cave comes from the rock that houses the Roc-de-la-Tête-du-Lion, a modern appellation given by the boatmen of the gorges of the Ardèche. Located 165 metres above sea level on the left bank of the Ardèche, it extends over 70 metres and is divided into three parts: a gallery with traces of red paint, a central room called "la Rotonde" housing the paintings, and a terminal hose inaccessible before 1973. The original access, probably a narrow chatter destroyed in 1963, still raises questions, as no alternative wells or trace of entry have been identified.

The parietal paintings, concentrated in the Rotonde abside, represent a bovid (probably a female Bos primigenus), two heads of male bouquetins, and several groups of red and yellow/green dots. An incomplete deer is also visible. These works, painted with red ochre, were dated thanks to charcoals found in the same stratigraphic layer. The first dates (1972) were about 19,700 B.C. (Recent or Ancient Solutrean) while a 2009 analysis confirmed a close date of 26,020 B.C.

The cave, owned by the municipality of Bidon, is not open to the public. His study continues to attract the interest of archaeologists, in particular to solve the enigma of his access during the Prehistory and to clarify his chronological context in the landscape of ardèche adorned caves. The successive excavations and research underline its importance for understanding parietal art and lifestyles in the higher Paleolithic region.

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