Dating of food remains Entre -35 000 et -27 000 (≈ 0)
Reindeer bone and horses found.
Automne 1983
Discovery of engravings
Discovery of engravings Automne 1983 (≈ 1983)
Christian Carcauzon discovers parietal engravings.
28 novembre 1989
Registration for Historic Monuments
Registration for Historic Monuments 28 novembre 1989 (≈ 1989)
First official protection of the site.
24 septembre 2013
Classification to Historical Monuments
Classification to Historical Monuments 24 septembre 2013 (≈ 2013)
Replaces 1989 registration.
Années 2020
Recent search campaigns
Recent search campaigns Années 2020 (≈ 2020)
Discovery of arrow tips (-60,000 years).
Aujourd'hui
Aujourd'hui
Aujourd'hui Aujourd'hui (≈ 2025)
Position de référence.
Heritage classified
The adorned cave as well as the soils of the plots including its right-of-way, corresponding to plots B 784 and 787: classification by order of 24 September 2013
Key figures
Christian Carcauzon - Discovery of the site
Identified the engravings in 1983.
Norbert Aujoulat - Specialist researcher
Studyed parietal engravings.
Brigitte et Gilles Delluc - Archaeologists
Analyzed and recorded the works.
Origin and history
The cave of Jovelle is an adorned cave located in the commune of La Tour-Blanche-Cercles, in the Dordogne department, in Nouvelle-Aquitaine. Discovered in 1983 by Christian Carcauzon, it reveals parietal engravings of mammoths, bouquetins and equidae, dated from the Upper Paleolithic. These works recall those of the Pair-non-Pair cave in Gironde, and the site has delivered prehistoric tools as well as bones of reindeer and horses.
The site, registered in 1989 and classified in 2013 as historical monuments, is located in an ancient limestone quarry operated until the 1940s. Excavations conducted in the 2020s revealed 60,000-year-old arrow tips and food remains dated from -35,000 to -27,000 years. The cave, owned by the department since 2006, is a rare testimony of archaic parietal art in Aquitaine.
The engravings, studied by Norbert Aujoulat and then Brigitte and Gilles Delluc, are divided into eight panels, some of which were damaged by the exploitation of the quarry. The soil also preserves fragments of pottery from the Iron Age, attesting to further occupation. The site, located near the ruins of the castle of Jovelle, illustrates the historical continuity of this territory since the Prehistory.
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