Crédit photo : Luc-Henri Fage/SSAC - Sous licence Creative Commons
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Timeline
XIXe siècle
Époque contemporaine
2000
1952
Discovery of paintings
Discovery of paintings 1952 (≈ 1952)
A. Jarlan identifies two painted bison.
1976
Scientific study
Scientific study 1976 (≈ 1976)
Analysis by Clottes and Guicharnaud, attribution to the Solutréen.
1992
Irreversible damage
Irreversible damage 1992 (≈ 1992)
Clearing bison by scouts.
9 février 1993
Official protection
Official protection 9 février 1993 (≈ 1993)
Registration for Historic Monuments.
Aujourd'hui
Aujourd'hui
Aujourd'hui Aujourd'hui (≈ 2025)
Position de référence.
Heritage classified
The archaeological site known as "Bruniquel Cave", consisting of the network of underground cavities with their structures architecturally elevated located in the bottoms of the polygon determined on the ground by eight peaks numbered from 1 to 8 in the hourly direction, of respective coordinates, expressed in the system RFG 93 – Lambert 93, n°1 : X=593962,3702, Y=6330264,1412; No.2: X=594013.8400, Y=6330253.8300; No. 3: =594016,9800, Y=6330253,0200; No.4: X=594183,0300, Y=6330225,2800; No 5: X=594427,2484, Y=6330199,6960; n°6: X=594433,0900, Y=6330106,3200; No.7: X=594089,2900, Y=6330178,8400; n°8: X=593936,5200, Y=6330223,5800, including the soil and subsoil of the right-of-way determined by this polygon; with the exception of buildings in elevation within this polygon, all situated on the parcels section B, No. 15, No. 16, No. 22, No. 776, No. 846, No. 875, No. 927, No. 928, No. 929 and No. 931, the portion of departmental road No. 1 contiguous to parcels section B, No. 776 and 22 at the place known as Cambou, and the portion of rural road No. 13 from Bruniquel to Nibausel contiguous to parcels section B, No. 15, 16, and No. 928, as delimited and coloured in red on the plan annexed to the decree: classification by order of 3 December 2021
Key figures
A. Jarlan - Discoverer
Identified the paintings in 1952.
Jean Clottes - Prehistory
Studyed bison in 1976.
R. Guicharnaud - Archaeologist
Collaborates in stylistic analysis.
Origin and history
The Cave of Mayore Superiore is a cave decorated with the Paleolithic located 2.2 km southeast of Bruniquel, in the Tarn-et-Garonne, in the Occitan region. It is part of a set of three cavities dug in the north slope of a small tributary valley of Aveyron. Discovered in 1952 by A. Jarlan, it houses a winding 350-metre-long corridor, where betting paintings were discovered about 50 metres from the entrance. These representations, studied in 1976 by J. Clottes and R. Guicharnaud, consist of two black painted bison, attributed to the Solutrean (Leroi-Gourhan's style III) because of their frontal perspective and the absence of anatomical details.
In 1992, the cave's paintings suffered irreversible degradation during a "clean-up" operation conducted by a group of Eclaires Éclaireurs de France, supervised by members of the Albigeese Speleo Club. Confounding paleolithic paintings with modern graffiti, they erased the two bison, leaving visible traces of their intervention. This incident won the Ig-Nobel Archaeology Award in the same year, highlighting the extent of damage to a rare prehistoric heritage. The cave was protected by inscription in the Historical Monuments in 1993, covering the soil, the basement and all the cavities under Parcel C 137.
The Cave of Mayore Superior illustrates the challenges of preserving underground archaeological sites, vulnerable to poorly informed human interventions. His study contributed to the knowledge of solutrean parietal art in Occitanie, despite the partial loss of its pictorial heritage. The surveys conducted by Clottes and Guicharnaud in 1984, available online, remain a reference for researchers. Today, the site is located with poor accuracy (level 5/10 according to the Merimée base), and its access is restricted to avoid further degradation.
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