The Cosquer cave is located in the Calanque de Morgiou near Marseille, France, not very far from Cap Morgiou. The Calanque de Morgiou is one of the biggest Calanques located between Marseille and Cassis. Marseille, ( English alt Marseilles mɑrˈseɪ — French: maʁsɛj locally — Provençal Occitan: Marselha maʀˈsijɔ This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. This cave, the entrance of which is located underwater nowadays, was discovered by Henri Cosquer in 1985 and declared to the authorities in 1991. Year 1991 ( MCMXCI) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar.
Contents |
Description
Today, the cave can be accessed through a 175-meter long tunnel, the entrance of which is located 37 meters under sea level.
20,000 years ago, during the last glaciation, large volumes of water were retained in enormous icecaps, making the level of the sea 110 to 120 meters lower than today. "Last glacial" redirects here For the period of maximum glacier extent during this time see Last Glacial Maximum The last glacial period The shore of Mediterranean sea was then several kilometers away from the cave.
The Art of Cosquer Cave
This cave contains several dozen painting and carvings dating back to Upper Paleolithic, matching two different phases of occupation of the cave:
- Older drawings of hand stencils and other related motifs, dating back to 27,000 BP (Gravettian)
- Newer drawings of signs and animal drawings dating back to 19,000 BP (Solutrean), representing both "classical" animals such as bisons, ibexes, and horses but also marine animals such as seals and what appear to be auks and jellyfish. The Upper Paleolithic (or Upper Palaeolithic) is the third and last subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age as it is understood in Europe Africa Before Present (BP years are a time scale used in Archaeology, Geology, and other scientific disciplines to specify when events in the past occurred The Gravettian was an industry of the European Upper Palaeolithic. Before Present (BP years are a time scale used in Archaeology, Geology, and other scientific disciplines to specify when events in the past occurred The Solutrean industry is a relatively advanced flint tool-making style of the Upper Palaeolithic. This is an article about an animal For other uses see Bison (disambiguation. An ibex, commonly called by its French name bouquetin also called Steinbock in German an individual of any of several species of wild mountain goats (genus The horse ( Equus caballus) is a hoofed ( Ungulate) Mammal, one of eight living species of the family Equidae. Pinnipeds ("fin-feet" lit "winged feet" or fin-footed mammals are a widely distributed and diverse group of semi-aquatic marine Mammals comprising This article is about a family of birds For the American ornithological journal see The Auk. Jellyfish are free-swimming members of the phylum Cnidaria. They have several different basic morphologies that represent several different cnidarian classes including the
See also
- The main article on Cave painting
External links
- Cosquer’s CaveGrotto Cosquer
- Prehistory and coastal karst area: Cosquer Cave and the “Calanques” of Marseille
- Official French Ministry of Culture pages on The Cosquer Cave
- The Cosquer Cave Prehistoric Images and Medicines Under the Sea by Jean Clottes, Jean Courtin and Luc Vanrell
References
- Jean Clottes, Jean Courtin, La grotte Cosquer, Seuil, 1994, ISBN 2-02-019820-7 (French)
- Jean Clottes, Jean Courtin, Luc Vanrell, Cosquer redécouvert, Seuil, 2005, ISBN 2-02-065550-0 (French)
- The Cave Beneath the Sea: Paleolithic Images at Cosquer by Jean Clottes and Jean Courtin (1996) Harry N. Cave paintings are Paintings on Cave walls and ceilings and the term is used especially for those dating to Prehistoric times Abrams, Inc. , New York ISBN 0-8109-4033-7 English translation by Marilyn Garner from the French edition
Dapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic