Speleology in south western France

Not being speleologists we did the best spelunking we could.

First we boated on a subterranean river at Labouiche which is billed as the longest navigable underground river in Europe-- about 1.5km. (Sorry no pictures-- it was completely verboten. ) We felt like we were on a journey to the centre of the earth.

Then we travelled to Niaux to visit a prehistoric site of some cave paintings. A famous site and quite awe-inspiring. (No pictures please.) You are led through the caves by a guide in small groups with minimal lighting following an ancient waterway. The trail is about 800m long as well so there is plenty of time to reflect on the people who came there 10-14,000 years ago. The first thing you see is a number of red and black geometric markings on the flat surface of a rock about about 350m in. These artists were surprisingly selective in choosing the sites for the painting as well as being fairly economic in their output considering how many years passed. Apparently as much as 1000 years passed between various paintings, and then they are remarkably similar in subject and materials both within the cave and across Europe. 95% of the world's rock art is found in southern France and Cantabria (northern Spain). What do the markings mean and how did they communicate the location and the ingredients for the paint, etc? After another 400m or so you arrive at the black cave which rises from the floor. The paintings are concentrated in this one gallery. Why so many bison? And horses? Bison and horses are both plains animals and weren't very high on their diet. Were they especially revered? There were mammoths roaming around at this time and some kind of wooly rhinocerous and big cats as well as wild boars. Pretty impressive subjects one would think. And no human subjects-- here anyway. Questions, questions. The big one is why. What were these artists thinking?

After pondering the imponderables, we finished our course of speleological findings by visiting the Grotte duMas d'Azil a large cavernous tunnel through which, unfortunately, they built a road. There is also a prehistoric site here which we didn't have time to take in. The Azilian age is named after this cave.


Prehistoric caves in Ariege. Tourist Info

Niaux art. More pictures here.