Tuc d'Audoubert
The complex system of subterranean passages at Montesquieu-Avantès in the foothills of the central French Pyrenees through which the River Volp flows is conventionally divided into three caves, Le Tuc d'Audoubert to the west, Les Trois-Frères in the centre and Enlène to the east.
While the eastern two are connected by a narrow corridor, no usable passage connects Tuc d'Audoubert with Trois-Frères and the only current means of access is by boat. At Tuc d'Audoubert the galleries lie on three levels, the lowest carrying the River Volp, the 'median' with decorated galleries (La Salle Nuptiale, La Galerie des Gravures) and the upper with further decoration (La Chatière, Salle des Talons) terminating in the Salle des Bisons containing the celebrated modelled clay bison.
The position of Trois-Frères and Enlène approximates to the upper level of Tuc d'Audoubert. Trois-Frères has numerous galleries with several possible original entrances, although the only certain Magdalenian access was through Enlène. Whereas Trois-Frères contains one of the most prolific arrays of wall art (Galerie des Mains, Chapelle de la Lionne, Galerie des Points, Salle du Grand-Eboulis, Sanctuaire, Galerie des Chouettes, Galerie de l'Hémione), Enlène has none. However excavations at Enlène have revealed a considerable range of engraved bones and stone plaquettes from occupation deposits.
Bégouën et al. (1991)The cave of Tuc Audoubert was discovered by the three sons of Count Henri three Bégouën on 20 July and 10 October 1912, and the Three Brothers July 21, 1914. These findings are not due to chance, but are linked to the supportive family environment of the discoverers. In 1911, Henri Bégouën organised a trip to the Mas d'Azil with his children, Max, Jacques and Louis, aged 18, 16 and 15 years. There, they dug in the old spoil from previous excavations and Max discovered a fragment of a Magdalenian perforated reindeer tooth. Excited, on their return they visited the nearby Enlène cave where Jacques has the incredible luck to find a beautiful wooden reindeer spear thrower! This finding triggered in them the desire to learn more about these ancient civilisations whose cultural wealth was thus revealed to them.
During the summer holidays of 1912, July 20, they decided to explore the resurgence of Volp using a raft they made, and thus discovered the cave of Tuc d'Audoubert and the first engravings. A prehistorian, Emile Cartailhac, a family friend, was called immediately and authenticated the drawings. On 10 October, through a narrow gap which became known as the catflap, with the help of their friend François Camel, they penetrated the upper galleries at the bottom of which awaited the clay bisons!
Plan of the cave system.
Photo:Bégouën et al. (2014)
The rive Volp leaving the limestone cavern of Tuc d'Audoubert at Montesquieu-Avantès in the Province of Ariège, France.
Photo:Breuil (1979)
Another view of the rive Volp leaving Tuc d'Audoubert, looking out from just inside the cave mouth.
Photo: © Michel31
Source: http://mototracteurs.forumactif.com/t25620-les-couleurs-de-l-automne
The cave of le Tuc d'Audoubert was the first discovered by the three sons of Comte Bégouën and their companion François Camel on the 20th July and the 10th October 1912, while the cave of les Trois Frères was discovered two years later, on July 20, 1914.
Upon discovery, these caves had several factors in favour of their study and conservation, not least the family of their discoverers. Émile Cartailhac, holder of the Chair of Prehistoric Archaeology of Toulouse, was asked for his advice very early in the piece. His advice was listened to, especially that, of the decorated caves recognised at the beginning of the twentieth century, some were already exploited and damaged, especially in the Pyrenees. A philosophy of conservation was then developed, not only imposed by the quality and quantity of the excavated remains, but also by the feeling of their terrible fragility.
Thus no opening to the public was ever considered, visits were reserved only to prehistorians, with facilities reduced to the minimum necessary, the footprints on the floors marked the immediate establishment of a trail from which it was (and still is) forbidden to depart, and the vast majority of the flints and bones left by the Magdalenians were left in situ.
In 1992 the decision was made to restart research at le Tuc d'Audoubert, shortly after a search of l'Enlène, the third of the group of closely associated caverns, which had brought together, for fifteen years, thirty young researchers at Pujol. With some of them, Robert Bégouën got together a team. The original idea was to publish only new discoveries, particularly the engravings of the Salle du Cheval Rouge and those of the diverticules of the Siphon and the Claviformes, most of which had been identified in 1964 and 1965 during two missions under the direction of Henri Lhote. But we realised very quickly that the requirements with respect to the recording of parietal art had greatly evolved, and that these long-standing records were no longer usable! It was necessary to start work from the beginning.The research was completed in the cave in 2004, and the publication of a complete monograph was expected in late 2007.Text above:
Bégouën et al. (2007)
The entrance to the cave at the time of discovery. The young discoverers in the company of their father, the Abbé Breuil, and Emile Cartailhac (doc. Assoc. L. Bégouën).
Photo and text: http://www.creap.fr/imagesCREAPweb/imgsTuc/Tuc-fig01.htm
The entrance to la grotte du Tuc d'Audoubert, seen from the interior of the cave at the exit of the Volp River.
Photo and text:Bégouën et al. (2007)
Exit of the Volp River, in springtime.
Photo: © Michel31
Source: http://mototracteurs.forumactif.com/t27960-le-printemps-est-revenu
Map of the cave. It is on three levels, the lowest being at the level of the Volp River, then the middle chambers, then the upper network which contains the clay bisons sculpture.
Photo: http://www.creap.fr/imagesCREAPweb/imgsTuc/Tuc-fig02.htm
The bisons from Tuc d'Audoubert, a cave which was discovered in 1912. These figures are modelled in clay and rest on a rock in the Salle Terminale, Réseau Supérieur of le Tuc d'Audoubert. The female bison is 62 cm long.
Photo:Bégouën et al. (2014)
The clay bisons and their nearby environment.
Grey - limestone rock
Light tan - clay from la Salle des Bisons
Dark tan - clay from la Salle des Talons
Photo: doc. G. Tosello - Assoc. L. Bégouën
Source and text: http://www.creap.fr/imagesCREAPweb/imgsTuc/Tuc-fig11.htm
The clay bisons from Tuc d'Audoubert.
Photo: Don Hitchcock 2014
Source: Facsimile, Musée d'Archeologie Nationale et Domaine, St-Germain-en-Laye
The clay bisons from Tuc d'Audoubert.
Photo: Original, J. Vertut, collection Bégouën
Source:Leroi-Gourhan (1984)
Drawing showing the close relationship established by the sculptors between the Salle des Talons, source of the clay material, and the Salle des Bisons, the display area for the creation of the sculptures.
Réseau Supérieur of le Tuc d'Audoubert.
Photo and text:Bégouën et al. (2007)
The clay bisons of Tuc d'Audoubert.
1 Fine engraving on the rock
2 The small bison
3 Detached tail of the first bison.
On the rocks, arrows indicate the direction of the slope. Kneaded clay is represented by a grid, clay lumps are shown by shading.
Drawing R. Bégouën and J. Clottes
Photo and text:Bégouën et al. (1977)
The story of the little bisonThe cave was discovered at Tuc d'Audoubert on Tuesday 12th July 1912 in circumstances that we know. Clay bison were found, after work to unblock the cave, on October 10th, 1912 by the three brothers Max, Louis and Jacques Bégouën and their friend François Camel. But it was not until Sunday, October 20, 1912, during the visit that made Breuil and E. Cartailhac, that the latter, being on all fours around the bison and the rock which supports them, put his hand accidentally on an object that seemed unusual to him, lifted it, and thus found the small bison.
It is clear that the circumstances of this unexpected find will always prevent us from knowing the exact position of the original small bison. It is also possible that it suffered somewhat during the discovery.
At that time, the cave was obviously not closed, and the discoverers were concerned that unwanted visitors would roam the cave and steal or destroy this small bison, comparable to movable art and a very vulnerable object. They therefore brought it back the same evening to the home of Count Bégouën. The input is communal, so it was assumed that the cave belonged to the town of Montesquieu-Avantès, of which Comte Bégouën was mayor.
Two dangers threatened: on one part numerous visitors, or development works for them. A few tens of kilometres away, Niaux cave had long been a fashionable venue for cave visits. Secondly, the greed of treasure seekers.
Indeed, following the discovery of a propulseur in the nearby Grotte d'Enlène, the owner, M. de Méritons, could not imagine that this treasure was purely scientific, and had believed in the discovery of a real monetary treasure, and had prohibited access to his cave to anyone, including the Bégouën family, which caused quite a stir in the country and confirmed stubborn legends that attributed to the caves buried treasures like the ruins of feudal castles.
To ensure the protection of the Cave of Tuc d'Audoubert, even before the discovery of clay bison, the cave was leased to E. Cartailhac, as Delegate of the Ministry of Education for Historic Monuments. After the discovery, it was necessary to persuade the inhabitants of the town at the same time that the cave was of value to science, and that the interests of the municipality would be in no way harmed. Count Bégouën's position, a distinguished prehistorian , but at the same time Mayor of the town, was not very comfortable.
The little clay bison therefore was put before the City Council to see, as an illustration of the type of discoveries that can be made in caves. Salomon Reinach, Curator of the Museum of National Antiquities in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, offered 100 gold francs to purchase it, to the great amazement of councillors, some of whom exclaimed "He must be very learned to attach so much value to a piece of shit (sic)".
The small bison rejoined the collection of the Musée des Antiquités Nationales under No. 58.030; it is still there, in perfect condition.
The little Bison.
Drawing by G. Nicolardot (ERA no 423 du C.N.R.S.).
Photo by Chéret (M.A.N.)
Source and text:Bégouën et al. (1977)
Footprints in the clay near the bison. John Robinson describes the scene:
'We turned to the sunken cave floor behind us. We slid down to it and stood beside a flat clay floor. A few footprints of adults can be seen in the clay, but mainly the footprints are of young children. Towards the rear wall of the cave, cut out of the floor, is a hole in the four inch thick clay where a slab has been removed, the shape and size of one of the Bison. Surely this was where the clay used to model the Bison had come from.'
Photo and text: John Robinson, http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/france/bison-tuc-d-audoubert/bison-tuc-d-audoubert2.php
Réseau Supérieur: footprint in the clay.
Plaster casts have never been made of these footprints. In order to do so, the soil must first be hardened with chemicals, so that the prints are not as they were originally.
These prints are just as they were 17 000 years ago.
Photo: Assoc. L. Bégouën doc
Source and text: http://www.creap.fr/imagesCREAPweb/imgsTuc/Tuc-fig09.htm
Cave bear skull, broken, surrounded by footprints on the clay soil of the Gallery of Footprints, Réseau Supérieur of le Tuc d'Audoubert.
Photo and text:Bégouën et al. (2007)
Chamois engraved on a fragment of the mandible of a bison, Tuc d'Audoubert.
Photo: Assoc. L. Bégouën doc
Source and text: http://www.creap.fr/imagesCREAPweb/imgsTuc/Tuc-fig05.htm
Detail of a series of claviformes, club-shaped signs, engraved on the ceiling of a small gallery (height of a sign 25 cm). Diverticule des Claviformes, Réseau Médian of the Tuc d'Audoubert.
Photo and text:Bégouën et al. (2007)
Fragment of the diaphysis (the main midsection or shaft of a long bone) of what is probably a bison, stuck deep in a crack and partially covered with white calcite. The width of the bone is 8 cm.
Galerie du Bouquetin, Réseau Médian of the Tuc d'Audoubert.
Photo and text:Bégouën et al. (2007)
Bone fragment stuck in a crack in the wall.
Photo: doc. Assoc. L. Bégouën, http://www.creap.fr/imagesCREAPweb/imgsTuc/Tuc-fig03.htm
Heads of a horse (top) and deer (bottom) carved from the hyoid bone of a horse. Middle Magdalenian. Each side is shown.
Lengths 6 and 8 cm.
Galerie de Bouquetin, Réseau médian of le Tuc d'Audoubert.
Collection du musée de l'Homme, Paris
Photo and text:Bégouën et al. (2007)
Heads of a horse (top) and deer (bottom) carved from the hyoid bone of a horse. Middle Magdalenian.
A slightly better quality image than the one above, but showing just one side.
Lengths 6 and 8 cm.
Galerie de Bouquetin, Réseau médian of le Tuc d'Audoubert.
Photo: doc. Assoc. L. Bégouën, http://www.creap.fr/imagesCREAPweb/imgsTuc/Tuc-fig04.htm
Plan of a structure formed by blocks of concretions and stalagmitic floor plates set on edge, delimiting an area of 18 m2 under a low ceiling. Middle Magdalenian, Réseau Médian du Tuc d'Audoubert
Photo and text:Bégouën et al. (2007)
Photograph of the walls of blocks set on edge under a low ceiling, during their excavation.
Réseau médian of le Tuc d'Audoubert.
Photo: doc. Assoc. L. Bégouën, http://www.creap.fr/imagesCREAPweb/imgsTuc/Tuc-fig06.htm
Panel of the monsters, engraved on the wall in front of the chatière.Réseau Supérieur of le Tuc d'Audoubert.
Photo: doc. Assoc. L. Bégouën, http://www.creap.fr/imagesCREAPweb/imgsTuc/Tuc-fig08.htm
A 'monster' from Tuc d'Audoubert.
Photo:Bégouën et al. (2014)
Reindeer bones, kitchen waste from a human meal in the cave, carrying marks of a wolf or fox.
These marks show that carnivores, coming to the camp after the departure of the people, had entered the cave via the bed of the Volp, which was then at a low level.
Photo: doc. Assoc. L. Bégouën, http://www.creap.fr/imagesCREAPweb/imgsTuc/Tuc-fig12.htm
Schematic view of the four series of claviform signs, and the engraved horse, on the ceiling and walls of the the Diverticule des Claviformes.
Photo and text:Bégouën et al. (2007)
Large bison engraved on the wall, height 53 cm.
Diverticule des Dessins, Réseau Médian of le Tuc d'Audoubert.
Photo and text:Bégouën et al. (2007)
Imprint of the right foot on the clayey soil and since covered with calcite.
Galerie des Empreintes, Réseau Supérieur of le Tuc d'Audoubert.
Photo and text:Bégouën et al. (2007)
Horse, reindeer and claviform signs engraved on the wall. Height of horse 32 cm.
Above the reindeer, on the right, an inverted bison.
Diverticule des Dessins, Réseau Médian of le Tuc d'Audoubert.
Photo (left) and text:Bégouën et al. (2007)
Photo (right): doc. Assoc. L. Bégouën, http://www.creap.fr/imagesCREAPweb/imgsTuc/Tuc-fig07.htm
Drawing of two large bison drawn with the finger tips under a low ceiling.
Length of male 109 cm.
Diverticule du Siphon, Réseau Médian of le Tuc d'Audoubert.
Photo and text:Bégouën et al. (2007)
Composition of points and lines drawn by the fingers on the yellow clay of the floor. The drawings are covered by a fine film of brown sediment and small limestone fragments fallen from the ceiling.
Right side of the Salle des Talons, Réseau Supérieur of le Tuc d'Audoubert.
Photo and text:Bégouën et al. (2007)
Réseau Supérieur: Claviform signs and other graphic designs made with finger tips in the clay floor of la Salle des Talons.
Photo: doc. Assoc. L. Bégouën, http://www.creap.fr/imagesCREAPweb/imgsTuc/Tuc-fig10.htm
References
- Bégouën H., 1920: Un dessin relevé dans la caverne des Trois-frères, à Montesquieu-Avantès (Ariège),Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, 64e année, N. 4, 1920. pp. 303-310.
- Bégouën H., 1929: À propos de l'idée de fécondité dans l'iconographie préhistorique, Bulletin de la Société préhistorique française, 26, 3, pp 197-199.
- Bégouën L., 1939: Pierres gravées et peintes de lépoque magdalénienne,Mélanges Bégouën, pp. 289-305
- Bégouën H., Breuil H., 1958: Les cavernes du Volp, Paris, Ed. Arts et métiers graphiques, p. 10, 48, 77, 89.
- Bégouën R., Clottes J., Delporte H., 1977: Le retour du petit bison au Tuc d'Audoubert,Bulletin de la Société préhistorique française, Comptes rendus des séances mensuelles. 1977, tome 74, N. 4. pp. 112-120
- Bégouën R., 1984: Projet d'étude globale les cavernes du Volp,http://www.cavernesduvolp.com/Begouen_1984.pdf
- Bégouën R., Clottes J., 1991: Portable and Wall Art in the Volp Caves, Montesquieu-Avantès (Ariège), Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, , 57, pp 65-79.
- Bégouën R., Fritz C., Tosello G., Clottes J., Faist F., Pastoors A., Lacombe S., Fosse P., 2007: Les Magdaléniens modelaient aussi l'argileLes Dossiers d'Archéologie, No. 324, November/December 2007
- Bégouën R., Clottes J., 2008: Douze nouvelles plaquettes gravées d'Enlène,Espacio, Tiempo y Forma, Serie I, Nueva época. Prehistoria y Arqueología, t. 1, 2008. pp. 77-92
- Bégouën E., Bégouën M., 2013a: Découverte d'un grand phallus gravé magdalénien dans la grotte des Trois-Frères (Ariège),Bulletin de la Société Préhistorique Française, Tome 110, numéro 1, janvier-mars 2013, p. 127-129.
- Bégouën E., Bégouën M., 2013b: New discoveries in the Sanctuary of Les Trois-Frères cave (Ariège),Quartär, 60 (2013): 107-114
- Bégouën R., Clottes J., Feruglio V., Pastoors A., 2014:La caverne des Trois-Frères, Co-edition Louis Association Bégouën / Somogy Editions d'Art, 248 pp, 288 ill.
- Breuil H., 1930: Un dessin de la grotte des Trois frères (Montesquieu-Avantès) Ariège,Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, 74e année, N. 3, 1930. pp. 261-264.
- Breuil, H., 1979:Beyond the Bounds of History, Scenes from the Old Stone Age, Gawthorn, 1979, reprinted from the edition of 1949, London.
- Broglio A., 1998:Introduzione al Paleolitico, Laterza, Bari 1998: 2006(6): p. 254;
- Giraud J., Rouzaud F., Bégouën R., Clottes J., 1982: Plaquette gravée d'Enlène, Montesquieu-Avantès (Ariège)Bulletin de la Société préhistorique française 1982, tome 79, N. 4. pp. 103-109.
- Guthrie, R.D., 2005:The nature of Paleolithic art Published by University of Chicago Press, 2005 ISBN 0226311260, 9780226311265 507 pages
- Leroi-Gourhan A., 1984:L'Art des cavernes : Atlas des grottes ornées paléolithiques françaises, Relié – 1 décembre 1984
- Sieveking, A., 1979:Cave Artists (Ancient Peoples and Places)
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Recent additions, changes and updates to Don's Maps This page last updated: Monday, 03rd Sep 2018 08:26If you have any information which would be useful for Don's Maps, or if you have questions or comments, please contact Don Hitchcock atdon@donsmaps.com
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My background
Some people have expressed interest in knowing a little bit about me. For those people, here is a potted biography:
I live in New South Wales, Australia, and I am a retired high school mathematics/science teacher.
The Donsmaps site is totally independent of any other influence. I work on it for my own pleasure, and finance it myself. I started before there was an internet, when I thought I could do a better job of the small map on the end papers of Jean Auel's wonderful book, Valley of the Horses, by adding detail and contour lines, and making a larger version. I have always loved maps since I was a young boy.
I had just bought a black and white '
fat Mac' with a whopping 512 kB of memory (!), and no hard disk. With a program called '
Super Paint' and a lot of double work (hand tracing first the maps of Europe from atlases, then scanning the images on the tracing paper, then merging the scanned images together, then tracing these digital scans on the computer screen), I made my own black and white map.
Then the internet came along, the terms of my internet access gave me space for a small website, and Don's Maps started. I got much better computers and software over the years, Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator for example, and my maps became colourised and had more detail. I did a lot of maps of the
travels of Ayla from Jean Auel's books, and I gradually included other pages with more and more photos available from the web, and scanned from books or from scientific papers, since I was not happy with the quality generally available. I became very interested in the Venus figurines, and set out to make a
complete record of the ice age ones. Along the way I got interested in archaeology for its own sake.
In 2008 my wife and I went to Europe, and when we arrived in Frankfurt at sunrise after the 24 hour plane trip from Sydney, while my wife left on her own tour with her sister, they visited relatives in Germany and Austria, I went off by myself on the train to Paris. Later that afternoon I took a train to Brive-la-Gaillarde, found a hotel and caught up on lost sleep. The next morning I hired a car, and over the next four weeks visited and photographed many of the original archaeological sites in the south of France, as well as many archaeological museums. It was a wonderful experience.My wife and I met up again later in the Black Forest, and
cycled down the Danube from its source to Budapest, camping most of the way, a wonderful trip, collecting many photos, including a visit to
Dolni Vestonice in the Czech Republic, as well as visiting the Vienna natural history museum. Jean Auel fans will realise the significance of that trip!
Luckily I speak French, the trips to France would have been difficult or impossible otherwise. No one outside large cities speaks English (or they refuse to). I was travelling independently, not as part of a tour group. I never knew where I was going to be the next night, and I camped nearly everywhere, except for large cities. I am a very experienced bushwalker (hiker) and have the required equipment -
a one-man ultra lightweight tent, sleeping bag, stove, raincoat, and so on, all of which I make myself for use here when I go bushwalking, especially down the beautiful gorges east of Armidale, though for Europe I use a commercial two person lightweight tent, since weight is not so much of a problem when cycling or using a car, and in any case my wife was with me when cycling, once along the Donau from its source to Budapest in 2008, and again from Amsterdam to Copenhagen and then up the Rhine from Köln to the Black Forest in 2014, both of which were memorable and wonderful trips.
In 2012 we went to Canada for a wedding and to visit old friends, and I took the opportunity to visit the wonderful Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia, where I took many photographs of the items on exhibit, particularly of the superb display of artefacts of the
First Nations of the Pacific Northwest.
In 2014 my wife and I did another European cycling tour, from
Amsterdam to Copenhagen, then from Cologne up the Rhine to the Black Forest, camping most of the way in each case, and taking many useful photos in museums along the way, including the museums at Leiden, Netherlands, and
Roskilde in Denmark, and the National Museum in Copenhagen. Again, I later hired a car and did more photography and visited many more sites in France.
In 2015 I made a lone visit to all the major museums in western Europe by public transport, mostly by train, and that went very well. I had learned a lot of German while travelling with my wife, who is a fluent speaker of the language, and of all the European countries, Germany is my favourite. I feel comfortable there. I love the people, the food, and the beer. Germans are gemütlich, I have many friends there now.
I repeated the visit to western Europe in 2018, to fill in some gaps of museums I had not visited the first time, because they were either closed for renovation the first time (such as the Musée de l'Homme in Paris) or because I ran out of time, or because I wanted to fill in some gaps from major museums such as the British Museum, the Berlin Museum, München, the Louvre, the Petrie and Natural History Museums in London, the Vienna Natural History Museum, the important museum in Brno, and museums in northern Germany. It takes at least two visits, preferably three, to thoroughly explore the items on display in a major museum.
I spend a lot of time on the site, typically at least a few hours a day, often more. I do a lot of translation of original papers not available in English, a time consuming but I believe a valuable task. People and fate have been very generous to me, and it is good to give back a very small part of what I have been given. With the help of online translation apps and use of online dictionaries there are few languages I cannot translate, though I find Czech a challenge!
Life has been kind to me, I want for nothing, and am in good health. Not many in the world are as lucky as I am, and I am grateful for my good fortune.
My best wishes to all who read and enjoy the pages of my site.
May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face;
And may rain on a tin roof lull you to sleep at night.
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