Grotte de Villars | |
_dordogne_-24-_photo_3_cropped.jpg) Petit Cheval Bleu | |
  Villars Cave location in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France | |
| Alternative name | Grotte du Cluzeau |
|---|---|
| Location | Villars,Nouvelle-Aquitaine,France |
| Coordinates | 45°26′32.1″N0°47′6.6″E / 45.442250°N 0.785167°E /45.442250; 0.785167 |
| History | |
| Founded | c. 18,000 years ago |
| Abandoned | c. 17,000 years ago |
| Periods | lateUpper Paleolithic |
| Cultures | Magdalenian |
| Site notes | |
| Discovered | December 1953 |
TheVillars Cave, inFrenchGrotte de Villars orGrotte du Cluzeau, was occupied during theLower Magdalenian byCro-Magnon hunter-gatherers. Thecave is part of theFrench commune ofVillars in the northernDordognedépartement. Besides its enormous wealth in beautifulstalactites,stalagmites and similarcalcite deposits it containscave paintings and someengravings. The Villars Cave and theRouffignac Cave are the biggest known cave systems in the Dordogne.
The Villars Cave is situated 3.5 kilometres to the northeast of Villars and about 500 metres to the north-northeast of the hamletLe Cluzeau. It can be accessed via the D 82 from Villars toSaint-Saud-Lacoussière; after a right-turn atLe Cluzeau one crosses the hamlet and reaches the ample parking area on a hill. The entry of the cave is at 170 metres above sea level, somewhat below the parking area along the left-hand slope of the little streamRuisseau de l'Étang Rompu, a left-hand tributary of theTrincou River. The cave was formed bykarstic phenomena affecting the outcroppingoolithiclimestones ofUpper Bajocian (Jurassic) age. On the other side of the valley arrives a southeast-trendingfault which most likely disrupted the cohesion of the local strata and triggered the erosional shaping of the similar oriented cave system bycarbon dioxide-laden waters during theQuaternary.
The Villars Cave was discovered in December 1953 by members of theSpéléo Club de Périgueux after their attention was drawn to a fox hole exuding steam. They enlarged the hole and thus found the entry to the enormous cave system. In 1956, the first scratch marks ofcave bears were noticed along the entry passage. Yet the cave paintings were only recognized later in 1957 by Pierre Vidal, a member of thespeleology club.
The art work was then investigated and approved of by the expertarcheologistHenri Breuil. In 1959, the cave was opened for the first time to the public.
Besides Breuil further scientific investigations were carried out in 1958 by André Glory and François Bordes, who were followed in 1959 byAndré Leroi-Gourhan and by Brigitte and Gilles Delluc in 1970.
The show cave is about 600 metres long and consists of several rooms connected by passageways. The cave system not open to the public continues on different levels for nearly another 13 kilometres. The Villars Cave is therefore together with theRouffignac Cave the most extensive cave system known in the Dordogne.
The not ornate part of the cave beginning right behind the entry excels in beautifulstalactites andstalagmites, pillars (i.e. coalesced stalactites and stalagmites), curtains and draperies of all sorts, wall coatings, so calledmaccaronis (thin, hollow stalactites) and large saucers (inFrench:gours).
A steep stone staircase, not suitable for people in wheel-chairs, leads down to the new entry which is somewhat below and farther to the northwest then the original one. A 40-metre-long, south-southeast-strikingentry passage (galerie d'accés) leads to thecrossing (carrefour) where three different passageways diverge from. The branch on the right follows a southeasterly direction and is 130 meters long. It is a combination of rooms and passageways, which begins with thesalle de bénitiers (holy water fonts room ), continues in the fairly narrowle passage (passage) and ends in thegrand balcon (great balcony) with thegrand stalagmite (big stalagmite). Thesalle de bénitiers also prolongs to the northwest into thesalle du chaos (chaos room). The left branch leads to the northeast and north-northeast into the ornate part of the cave. It starts with the 10-metre-longsalle des cierges (candle room) where the first paintings were noticed, followed by the 30-metre-longsalle des peintures (painting room) with most of the art work. At its far northeastern end is the exit. The 50-metre-long middle branch leads just before the candle room also to the southeast. After thesalle des griffades (scratch room) the passage swings into a south-southeasterly direction and therefore meets up again with the right-hand branch just before the great balcony.
On the right hand side of the entry passage the scratch marks ofcave bears can be seen. Also some painted dots and traits can be noticed either occurring individually or grouped in clusters.
This first room along the right-hand passageway can be reached right after the crossing via a descending slope. It contains besides very beautiful stalactites and stalagmites also two fairly bigsaucers which have given it its name.
In the 30-metre-long and 15-metre-wide chaos room a partial collapse of the ceiling has happened so that big limestone blocks and slabs were covering the floor. Subsequently, thechaos was covered in fairly thick and massive calcite concretions. From the more elevated west end of the adjoiningsalle des bénitiers one has an impressive view of the room.
Along the left-hand branch the candle room - named after its beautiful stalagmites (candles) - also contains dots and traits but mainly features with some very nice art work like a 40 centimetrebison, the head of ahorse and a bovine. The room ends in a very narrow passageway that was later enlarged to facilitate the entry to the painting room, which meant that some very beautiful concretionary deposits had to be sacrificed.
The painting room exhibits most of the art work. It is most famous for thefresque de chevaux (horse fresco), thepetit cheval bleu (little blue horse) and thel'homme et le bison (man and bison). Yet it also contains exuberant and partially intergrown calcitic deposits.
Altogether 30 paintings have been discovered, their size not exceeding 50 centimetres. The paintings were drawn in blackmanganese oxide bound by animal grease. Later on the paintings were naturally covered by a thin, milky calcite coating which renders the traits in blue (like the famous little blue horse of Villars). Yet at the same time the coating has protected the art work from external influences and the Villars Cave does not seem to have the problems that affectedLascaux. Besides the paintings someengravings are also present, as well as abstract female silhouettes, red dots painted withochre and some very abstract geometrical signs like staffs, crosses and hooked symbols. The geometrical signs are very difficult to interpret.
Besideshorses,bovines,bisons,capricorns and adeer head, a human figure attacked by a bison is depicted. The latter resembles a similar scene found in the well of Lascaux (scene du puits).
Cro-Magnon man's presence has left a few traces like knocked over calcite concretions and broken stalagmites. Some lost or discarded utensils have also been found – to name silex flakes, bone fragments (mainly from reindeer), areindeer antler and ochre and manganese oxide fragments for painting together with cup-shaped calcite deposits used as receptacles.
According to Leroi-Gourhan, the art work can be attributed stylistically to the second period of hisstyle III which correlates with theOlder Magdalenian. This represents in absolute terms roughly 17,000 yearsBP.[1]
Absolute age dating with theradiocarbon method was done by Michel Genty on a burnt tooth found in a fireplace below theman and bison. He found a result of 18,000 years BP for the tooth.[2]
The close stylistic resemblance of theman and bison scene with similar depictions in Lascaux and inRoc-de-Sers also indicates an age range of 18,000 to 17,000 years BP.