All Topics  
Cosquer Cave

 
Cosquer Cave

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Cosquer Cave
 
 
  Topics Cosquer Cave Topic Home

The Cosquer cave is located in the Calanque de Morgiou
Calanque de Morgiou

The Calanque de Morgiou is one of the biggest calanques located between Marseille and Cassis.Formerly a fishing port, it is famous for the gigantic tuna fishing organized there in 1622, when the king Louis XIII paid a visit to Marseille....
 near Marseille
Marseille

"Marseille" is the second-largest city of France and forms the third-largest aire urbaine, after those of Paris and Lyon, with a population recorded to be 1,516,340 at the 1999 census and estimated to be 1,605,000 in 2007....
, France
France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
, not very far from Cap Morgiou. This cave, the entrance of which is located underwater nowadays, was discovered by Henri Cosquer in 1985 and declared to the authorities in 1991.

y, 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.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Cosquer Cave'
Start a new discussion about 'Cosquer Cave'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


The Cosquer cave is located in the Calanque de Morgiou
Calanque de Morgiou

The Calanque de Morgiou is one of the biggest calanques located between Marseille and Cassis.Formerly a fishing port, it is famous for the gigantic tuna fishing organized there in 1622, when the king Louis XIII paid a visit to Marseille....
 near Marseille
Marseille

"Marseille" is the second-largest city of France and forms the third-largest aire urbaine, after those of Paris and Lyon, with a population recorded to be 1,516,340 at the 1999 census and estimated to be 1,605,000 in 2007....
, France
France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
, not very far from Cap Morgiou. This cave, the entrance of which is located underwater nowadays, was discovered by Henri Cosquer in 1985 and declared to the authorities in 1991.

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. 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
Upper Paleolithic

The Upper Paleolithic is the third and last subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age as it is understood in Europe, Africa and Asia. Very broadly it dates to between 40,000 and 9th millennium BC years ago, roughly coinciding with the appearance of "high" culture and before the advent of agriculture....
, matching two different phases of occupation of the cave:
  • Older drawings of hand stencils and other related motifs, dating back to 27,000 BP
    Before Present

    Before Present years are a time scale used in archaeology, geology, and other science disciplines to specify when events in the past occurred. Because the "present" time changes, standard practice is to use 1950 Common_Era as the arbitrary origin of the age scale....
     (Gravettian
    Gravettian

    The Gravettian was an archaeological industry of the European Upper Palaeolithic. It is named after the type site of La Gravette in the Dordogne region of France....
    )
  • Newer drawings of signs and animal drawings dating back to 19,000 BP
    Before Present

    Before Present years are a time scale used in archaeology, geology, and other science disciplines to specify when events in the past occurred. Because the "present" time changes, standard practice is to use 1950 Common_Era as the arbitrary origin of the age scale....
     (Solutrean
    Solutrean

    The Solutrean archaeological industry is a relatively advanced flint tool-making style of the Upper Palaeolithic.It is named after the type-site of Solutr? in the M?con district, Sa?ne-et-Loire, eastern France, and appeared around 19,000 BCE....
    ), representing both "classical" animals such as bison
    Bison

    Bison is a taxonomic group containing six species of large even-toed ungulates within the subfamily Bovinae. Only two of these species still exist: the American bison and the European bison, or wisent , each with two subspecies....
    s, ibex
    Ibex

    An ibex is an individual of any of several species of wild mountain Capra , distinguished by the male's large recurved Horn_%28anatomy%29, which are transversely ridged in front....
    es, and horse
    Horse

    The horse is a hoofed mammal, a subspecies of one of seven extant species of the family Equidae. The horse has evolution of the horse over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, odd-toed ungulate animal of today....
    s but also marine animals such as seals
    Pinniped

    Pinnipeds or fin-footed mammals are a widely distributed and diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals comprising the families Odobenidae , Otariidae , and Phocidae ....
     and what appear to be auk
    Auk

    Auks are birds of the family Alcidae in the order Charadriiformes. They are superficially similar to penguins due to their black-and-white colours, their upright posture and some of their habits....
    s and jellyfish
    Jellyfish

    Jellyfish are free-swimming members of the phylum Cnidaria. They have several different morphologies that represent several different cnidarian classes including the Scyphozoa , Staurozoa , Cubozoa , and Hydrozoa ....
    .


See also

  • Cave painting
    Cave painting

    Cave paintings are paintings on cave walls and ceilings, and the term is used especially for those dating to prehistoric times. The earliest known European cave paintings date to 32,000 years ago....


External links

  • Grotto Cosquer
  • Official French Ministry of Culture pages on
  • Prehistoric Images and Medicines Under the Sea by Jean Clottes, Jean Courtin and Luc Vanrell