Grotte du Placard

Useful Information

Location:	()
Open:	JUL to AUG with reservation only. [2014]
Fee:
Classification:	Karst Cave
Light:
Dimension:	A=125 m asl., L=17 m, W=9 m.
Guided tours:
Photography:
Accessibility:
Bibliography:
Address:	Office de Tourisme de Montbron, Place de l'Hôtel de Ville, 16220 Montbron, Tel: +33-545-236009. E-mail:
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1853	cave discovered.
1877-1878	destructive excavations in search of spectacular objects.
1902	important excavation financed by the association française pour l'avancement de sciences.
1912	findings analyzed by Abbe Breuil.
1958	excavations by Jean Roche.
1988	new discoveries by Louis Duport.

Description

The Grotte du Placard is an important archaeological site which was inhabited between 80.000 and 5.000 BC. The most famous excavator here was Abbe Breuil, who used the restults of the excavation of four layers of Magdalénian to establish a chronology in 1912. This work still serves as a reference today. The Magdalénian finds include bone spears, jewelry made of teeth and pierced shells, and so-called command sticks.

A more recent discovery by Louis Duport in 1988 is rather spectacular. He found a passage with engravings from the Solutrean period (~18.000 years BC). After the excavation of the passage the wall showed a 5 m long frieze of horses, deer, ibex, reindeer, a chamois, a saiga antelope, aurochs and two buffalos.