Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Font-de-Gaume Cave is a French adorned cave in the commune of Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireuil, Dordogne. Its walls house more than 200 Magdalenian engravings and paintings, including polychrome works comparable to those of Lascaux or Altamira. It is one of the fifteen "prehistoric sites and caves adorned with the Vézère Valley" listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites since 1979, although its state of conservation is less good than that of other major sites.

The discovery of the parietal works took place on 12 September 1901 by Denis Peyrony, Louis Capitan and Henri Breuil, four days after the cave of the Combarelles. The cave, already known to locals, even served as a playground for children, which explains the presence of graffiti on some paintings. By 1902, it was classified as historical monuments. Excavations were carried out by Peyrony, Breuil, and F. Prat between 1958 and 1967, revealing lithic remains mainly shawelperronian and aurignacian.

Font-de-Gaume is dug into a limestone massif dating from the Upper Cretaceous, formed by the flow of groundwater. The cave, 125 meters long, opens halfway up a cliff and has a narrow corridor where the first figures appear after a narrowness called the Rubicon. The works, located about 60 meters from the entrance, include animals (aurochs, bisons, mammoths, horses), geometric signs and some anthropomorphic figures. Black and red pigments, applied by buffering or blowing, are of natural origin.

Among the most remarkable performances is a scene of two reindeer "affronted", interpreted as a possible sexual parade. The works, undated in an absolute manner, are attributed to the Magdalenian by stylistic comparison. Since 1979, the cave has been protected by UNESCO and managed by the National Monuments Centre. In order to preserve the paintings, the number of visitors has been drastically reduced from 2,000 per day to only 78 since 2013.

The cave is now considered dry, although some flows remain on some walls. Its morphology in high diaclase and the presence of concretions testify to its complex geological formation. The archaeological remains discovered refer to several periods, from the Moustarian to the Magdalenian, although the chatelperronian and aurignacian traces dominate. The conservation of works is ensured by strict regulation of visits, limiting the rise of temperature in the cavity.

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