Grotte du Mas-d'Azil

Useful Information

Location:	D119, 09290 Le Mas-d'Azil, Departement Ariège. (43.0693305, 1.3555101)
Open:	Road Tunnel: no restrictions. Show Cave: APR to OCT daily. NOV to MAR sporadically. Reservation mandatory. [2024]
Fee:	Road Tunnel: free. Show Cave: Adults EUR 11, Children EUR 7, Students (-26) EUR 8, Family (2+2) EUR 30,50. [2024]
Classification:	Karst Cave Caves Used as Road Tunnels Typesite
Light:	Incandescent
Dimension:	L=2,100 m. Tunnel: L=420 m, W=30-50 m, H=60 m, A=370 m asl.
Guided tours:
Photography:
Accessibility:	wheelchair accesible (sidewalk)
Bibliography:	Jan F. Kegler (2007): Das Azilien von Mas d'Azil. Der chronologische und kulturelle Kontext der Rückenspitzengruppen in Südwesteuropa, Mit einem Beitrag von Jan F. Kegler und Stefan R. Loew. PhD thesis, Universität zu Köln.
Address:	Grotte du Mas-d'Azil, 09290 Azil
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

1887	first excavation by Edouard Piette on the right side of the river.
1889	excavation on the left side by Edouard Piette.
1870 to 1902	excavation by Henri Breuil.
1935 to 1944	excavation by Marthe and Saint-Juste Péquart.
09-AUG-1942	declared a Historic Monument.

Description

The Grotte du Mas-d'Azil is simply named after nearby rural village Le Mas-d'Azil. The cave ruin is just a small remains of a formerly much bigger cave system. The rest was destroyed by erosion, and what remains is a short part of a huge passage with the small river Arize flowing through. It is a huge through cave with a small river, and ample place to walk along the river except during floods. And this cave connects two parts of the Arize Valley horizontally, so the voluminous passage was always used by man. Prehistoric man used it as a shelter, modern man to build a road through. So this is actually one of very few caves which may be visited by car.

The cave was visited by numerous animals during the last Ice Age, including bears, mammoths and woolly rhinoceros. During the Magdalenian and Azilian periods, the cave was inhabited by man. In the cave, numerous layers of human remains were excavated, the findings include weapons, tools, and artwork. The cave has also been used for refuge by the Christians during the first centuries, when Christians were persecuted in the Roman Empire. During the Albigensian Crusade the Cathars found refuge here, and during the siege of 1625 the Protestants.

At the end of the 19th century, the first pebbles with artwork were discovered. The archaeological exploration started immediately, the cave has been excavated several times during the last 120 years. These are just rounded pebbles, white or bright grey, in various forms and a size between 9 cm and 12 cm. They are painted with geometric ornaments in a colour created of iron oxide (rust) and resin. The geometric designs include dots, lines, lines with dots, parallel scratches, borders, and so forth. Some symbols seem to be some kind of writing, similar to the younger runes or letters. Since their discovery, numerous theories have been constructed, what they were and how they were used. And although there are more locations with such rocks in the southwestern Pyrenees, and despite the similarity to much younger runes, their actual meaning is impossible to find out. However, they are definitely a form of communication and probably the oldest known written communication from the transition from the Palaeolithic to the Mesolithic.

While it is possible to cross the cave by car, there is no possibility to park the car inside the cave. The car park is in front of the cave portal, and there is a footpath into the cave, along the road. In the middle of the passage lies the entrance to the show cave Mas-d'Azil. Here is also a new Interpretation Center which was built into the spacious passage. Its a good place to see the exhibition while waiting for the tour. Online booking is strongly recommended, and actually the open hours are quite complicated, so it is actually the best to check their online ticket system. Be there at least 15 minutes before the tour, we would recommend 45 minutes, so you have enough time to see the Interpretation Center. This show cave shows the location of the most important excavations, so this is an archaeological site. You can see the prehistoric rock drawings and various objects discovered in the cave. More objects are on exhibition in the small Musée de la Préhistoire (Museum of the Prehistoric) in the nearby village Le Mas-d'Azil. These are actually the finding of the excavations by Marthe and Saint-Juste Péquart. The findings of Edouard Piette and Henri Breuil are stored at the Musée des Antiquites Nationales in Saint Germain-en-Laye near Paris. The ticket includes the visit of the Interpretation Center, the show cave, and the Musée de la Préhistoire.

Prehistoric discoveries in the Grotte du Mas-d'Azil were the first of Azilian Age, so the age inherited the name of the cave. This cave is what is called a typesite or type locale (locus typicus) for the Azilian Age.