Grottes de Montmaurin

About

The caves of Montmaurin are a set of cavities located in the gorges of the Seygouade, in the commune of Montmaurin, in Haute-Garonne, in Pays Comminges Pyrénées, in the Occitanie region, in France. The archaeological filling of the caves covers a long period, from the Mindel-Riss interglacial (about 400,000 years) to the Gallo-Roman period. Many of these caves have delivered human fossils, the most famous of which, taken from the cave of La Niche, is the mandible of Montmaurin, the oldest human fossil known in France until the discovery of the Tautavel Man.

The Cave of the Bees is the first site where the Protoaurignacian was recognized. The Montmaurin site, whose main cavities are the Terrasse, Coupe-George and the Niche, is an important deposit for the knowledge of the ancient phases of Paleolithic in France. These caves have nearby the caves of Lespugue, which take part in the same geological formation and whose cave of Rideaux delivered the famous Venus de Lespugue (Gravetien).

Other caves are located in the commune of Montmaurin but in the valley of the Sava and are part of all the...