The Cave of Niaux (French: ''Grotte de Niaux'') is located in the

Niaux Niaux is a commune in the Ariège department in southwestern France. Located on the right banks of the Vicdessos river, Niaux is the site of the Cave of Niaux, which is famous for its prehistoric cave paintings of bison and horses from th ...

commune, Ariège ''

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level (" territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. There are a total of 101 ...

'' in southwestern

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

as part of a wider geological system that includes the ''Sabart Cave'' and ''Lombrives Cave'' in the hill of ''Cap de la Lesse de Bialac''. The Niaux Cave's system is complex and has a combined length of more than of underground passages and chambers. An archaeological site with a documented history of paleo-human presence, Niaux contains numerous distinct areas and galleries of carefully drawn and vivid wall paintings, executed in a black-outlined style typical of the classic Magdalenian period, between 17,000 and 11,000 years ago.

Overview

Félix Garrigou, prehistorian and hydrologist, known for his investigations of caves of southern France, visited the site in 1864 and was shown some of the paintings.

Research

Only after a Commander Molard and his sons had discovered the gallery of ''Salon Noir'' and published a plan of the cave did Niaux attract specialists' attention in 1869. It was investigated by

Henri Breuil Henri Édouard Prosper Breuil (28 February 1877 – 14 August 1961), often referred to as Abbé Breuil (), was a French Catholic Church, Catholic priest, archaeologist, anthropologist, ethnologist and geologist. He studied cave art in the Somme ( ...

and

Emile Cartailhac Emile or Émile may refer to: * Émile (novel) (1827), autobiographical novel based on Émile de Girardin's early life * Emile, Canadian film made in 2003 by Carl Bessai * '' Emile: or, On Education'' (1762) by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, a treatise o ...

a year later and received full-scale recognition. In 1925, J. Mandeman found another gallery with black paintings and called it ''Cartailhac Gallery''. In 1971, a major scientific examination was undertaken by Jean Clottes and Robert Simonnet and in 1980 and 1981, a team of scientists made an inventory of all the pictures in the cave.

Site

Niaux Cave, situated in a steep-sided valley in the commune of Vicdessos in the Tarascon basin is one of the few cave systems left where exceptional prehistoric paintings can still be viewed by the public. The previously unrecorded separate ''Reseau Clastres'' network was only discovered in 1970. It holds a series of prehistoric 'footprints' and a rare charcoal sketch of a weasel.

''Salon noir'' panel

"The base of the stone is not colored and the range is restricted for the figures: black and some red for a few of the signs. The predominating animal is the
bison A bison (: bison) is a large bovine in the genus ''Bison'' (from Greek, meaning 'wild ox') within the tribe Bovini. Two extant taxon, extant and numerous extinction, extinct species are recognised. Of the two surviving species, the American ...
, represented in the upper part of the panel. The bison standing out in the left central part is usually catalogued as a female, due to the shapes presented, such as the scarcely prominent hump. By contrast and in opposition to this is the male, found on the right-hand side and showing a more prominent hump. The lower part of the wall represents several horses which, with painted hair, represent a member of the equine family with a great amount of hair, the
Przewalski horse Przewalski's horse (''Equus ferus przewalskii'' or ''Equus przewalskii''), also called the takhi, Mongolian wild horse or Dzungarian horse, is a rare and endangered wild horse originally native to the steppes of Central Asia. It is named after t ...
. The bestiary is finished off with two goats, one represented in a very natural manner and the other in a totally schematic manner. The panel is dated as being 13,000 years old. The walk to the paintings leads through both big caves and narrow passages. The cave floor has been left in its natural state: wet, very uneven and slippery in places so sturdy walking shoes are essential."

facsimile A facsimile (from Latin ''fac simile'', "to make alike") is a copy or reproduction of an old book, manuscript, map, art print, or other item of historical value that is as true to the original source as possible. It differs from other forms of r ...

of Niaux's ''Salon Noir'' (in its pristine form), as well as of other figures in the cave and the Réseau Clastres, is displayed in the nearby Park of Prehistoric Art, near

Tarascon-sur-Ariège Tarascon-sur-Ariège (, literally ''Tarascon on Ariège''; Languedocien: ''Tarascon d’Arièja'') is a commune in the Ariège department in southwestern France. Tarascon-sur-Ariège station has rail connections to Toulouse, Foix and Lato ...

References

Bibliography

* ^ Paul G. Bahn; Jean Vertut (1997). Journey Through the Ice Age. University of California Press. pp. 16–. .

External links

Visiting the Niaux cave: Practical Information
* ^ Jun Tsuji (2004). The Soul of DNA. Llumina Press. pp. 19–. . * ^ Moshe Barasch (1 March 1998). Modern Theories of Art 2: From Impressionism to Kandinsky. NYU Press. pp. 211–. . {{DEFAULTSORT:Niaux, cave of Prehistoric sites in France Landforms of Ariège (department) History of Ariège (department) Caves of Occitania (administrative region) World Heritage Sites in France Caves containing pictograms in France Show caves in France Tourist attractions in Ariège (department)