Grotte du Visage

The cave contains a painted face, signs (dots and lines) and a very beautiful left negative hand whose thumb has the particularity of a possible doubling. The artists brilliantly used the natural relief of the wall to position their works and thus bring out certain elements and probably suggest archaic animal representations: equine, feline, bear or reindeer.

A skull in perfect condition but without its mandible was found in a small cave at the end of a passage accessible from the face chamber; given its location and positioning, this skull must have been deliberately placed there.

Initially, the parietal works were attributed to the Upper Paleolithic and more precisely to the Gravettian (about 28 to 22000 years BP) on the basis of stylistic comparisons. The works are therefore older than those of Lascaux. These discoveries enrich knowledge concerning this period, even if they are not as spectacular as other ornamented caves.

Human bones were discovered in the middle of a rockfall in the chamber near the face. It is obviously not yet known whether this skull and the bones of the grotte du visage belong to the same individual. Five hyena skeletons in anatomical connection were also discovered in a chamber near the grotte du Visage but are probably earlier than the paintings.

Human and hyena bones were dated using the Carbon 14 method. These datings made it possible to estimate the age of the human bones at about 27000 years and those of hyenas at about 28000 years. They are therefore probably contemporary with the paintings. Given the margin of error inherent in the dating method used, it is possible that the grotte du Visage was therefore a burial place for a particular person and that the burial was carried out according to a specific ritual. The association between Gravettian parietal works and human bones is also known in the grotte de Cussac.

Source:
* Communiqué du Ministère de la Culture: http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/actualites/communiq/donnedieu/vilhonneur020606.html
* Article Wikipédia "Grotte du Visage", in its version of 7 January 2016: https://fr.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Grotte_du_Visage&oldid=122043342