La Grotte Cosquer (Cap Morgiou, Marseille)
Authors: Clottes Jean , Beltrán A. , Courtin Jean , Cosquer Henri 
Published: February 2010

ABSTRACT In 1991 a huge chamber with numerous paintings and engravings was discovered by a professional deep-sea diver after a long (175 m) passage that sloped up from a narrow (1.30 m high) entrance situated 37 m under present sea-level. The art was preserved because the chamber happened to be high up enough not to have been flooded, but large numbers of paintings and engravings were most probably destroyed in the passage and in the lower part of the chamber. Many other caves along that coast disappeared under the sea after the end of the Pleistocene with the rise of the water, but it is the first time ever that rock art was discovered under such circumstances. The first question to address was that of the art's authenticity. On-the-spot observations and various analyses (pollen, charcoal, 14C dating) leave no room for any doubt. A 18,440 bp date ( ± 440, Ly- 5558) was obtained from charcoal lying on the ground. The 17 samples of charcoal determined belonged to Pinus silvestris and Pinus nigra, whereas the Pine of Alep, the only species now represented in the area, was absent. Two preliminary pollen analyses pointed to a Wiirm landscape, with very few trees, among which Betula. At least half the paintings are covered with patches of bright white calcite, of a type which, according to geologists, takes a very long time in depositing. Most of the engravings are distinctly weathered and patina- ted. However, the art's authenticity was challenged by a few, from the photographs published in the newspapers. Their arguments are discussed in this study. So far, 44 animals (21 engraved, 23 painted) and 26 negative hands, most of them with incomplete fingers, have been found. Horses are dominant (14), followed by bisons and ibex in equal numbers (7), then by chamois (5); there also are 1 red deer, 1 feline, 3 penguins, 2 seals and 2 possible megaceros, as well as 2 indeterminate quadrupeds. Many signs, among which long barbed lines superimposed on various animals, were observed. In addition, the walls of the chamber are covered with innumerable fine engravings and finger tracings that have not so far been studied. The present count of animals, hands and signs is therefore highly provisional. The superimpositions point to two possible periods, the earlier with the negative hands and the finger tracings, the later with the painted and engraved animals and the fine engravings. From the conventions used, the second period is probably contemporary with Ebbou (Ardèche), or the Late Solutrean of Parpalló (Spain), maybe a bit later as some details have their counterpart in Lascaux. This art should be situated within a period estimated between 17,000 and 20,000 bp. Even though the cave art cannot yet be studied as it should and it will be years before it is, the importance of this discovery is obvious: it is located in the Provence where no Paleolithic rock art had ever been found before; the art exhibits various characteristics that may bear witness to outside influences or may be original and have spread from there (Lascaux; Ebbou and other "mediterranean" caves; Gargas for the hands); finally, as is often the case with major art caves, it shows some distinct original features (for example, the sea animals, some signs, etc.).