Cosquer Cave
The Cosquer Cave is located in the Calanque de Morgiou in Marseille, France, near Cap Morgiou. The entrance to the cave is located underwater, due to the Holocene sea level rise. The cave contains various prehistoric rock art engravings. It was discovered in 1985 by and named after diver Henri Cosquer, but its existence was not made public until 1991, when three divers became lost in the cave and died. Description. The cave can now be accessed by divers through a long tunnel; the entrance is located below sea level, which has risen since the cave was inhabited . During the glacial periods of the Pleistocene, the shore of the Mediterranean was several kilometers to the south and the sea level up to below the entrance of the cave. Prehistoric paintings. Four fifths of the cave, including any cave wall art, were permanently or periodically submerged and destroyed by sea water. 150 instances of cave art remain, including several dozen paintings and carvings dating back to the Upper Paleolithic, corresponding to two different phases of occupation of the cave: