Grotte de Foissac

The upstream part of the cave has yielded numerous archaeological remains from the Late Neolithic, dated to about 2700 BC (burials, lithic and bone tools, ceramics and traces of multiple passages).

In 2006, the presence of Upper Paleolithic parietal paintings and engravings was observed in another part of the network, in the François Rouzaud chamber (named after one of the archaeologists who studied the site and who died there in 1999). The engravings include fine non-figurative incisions. The paintings include black lines, red and black dots, an aurochs, a caprine and two bison associated in a pre-mating scene. The lines are associated with bones and a fragment of mammoth ivory wedged into cracks in the wall, as is the case in various decorated caves of the Quercy or the Pyrenees. Given the theme and style, the works of Foissac could predate the Magdalenian.

A statuette about ten centimeters long, carved from a bison or aurochs phalanx, was discovered in 2014 in the François Rouzaud chamber. It represents a probably female figure carrying a child or an animal in her arms.

In 1999, the grotte de Foissac was studied by a collective of cavers from the Fédération française de spéléologie. Several iron pisolith extraction sites were identified, as well as paths and traces of ancient passages. These traces of passage are attested by clay trails covered with calcite. In many places in the gallery, there are beginnings of test pits that show that mining prospection was also practiced in the Grotte. The antiquity of the test pits is attested by a thin layer of calcite. The incursion and short-lived exploitation are attributed to the medieval period, as indicated by pottery shards found near the so-called "FFS" entrance. This access corresponds to the historic entrance that opened at the bottom of a doline.