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Origin and history

The cave of La Vache, also called Laroque II, is an adorned cave located in the massif of the Thaurac, in the commune of Laroque (Hérault). It opens on the left bank of the Hérault River, close to the Lauriers, Mayor and Fox caves. With a length of 18 metres, it is distinguished by its Jurassic limestones and its inscription in the Inventory of Historical Monuments since 1990, for its traces of parietal art of the Upper Magdalenian.

The first excavations date back to the 19th century, led by Paul Gervais and Cazalis de Fondouce, but it was only in 1905 that Eugene Gimon published an article in the Bulletin of the French Prehistoric Society. In 1967, Michel Lorblanchet discovered a bovid engraving associated with geometric signs, confirming the archaeological importance of the site. The furniture, preserved at the Nîmes Museum, reveals the occupations of Magdalenian V and Solutrean.

The engravings, including a 40 cm bovide covered with calcite, attest to a human occupation between the middle and recent Magdalenian. The 1979 excavations by Frédéric Bazile revealed two levels of habitat separated by a sterile layer. This site remains the only one of the Hérault to present a parietal art as well preserved, with animal figures and geometric motifs entangled.

The cave was mentioned in 1664, but its systematic study began in the 20th century. The objects discovered, such as solutrean laurel leaves, and fine stratigraphs make a rare testimony of the cultural transitions between the Solutrean and Magdalenian in Occitanie. Its archaeological filling, exceptionally rich, covers nearly 5,000 years of prehistoric occupation.

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