Abri Sous-les-Rideaux

About

The sub-les-Rideaux shelter is a small cavity forming part of the caves of Lespugue, located in Lespugue, Haute-Garonne, in the Occitanie region of France. Its filling delivered vestiges dated from Neolithic to the Central Middle Ages.

Situation: The sub-les-Rideaux shelter is about 1,400 m downstream of the Notre-Dame mill, at the lower level of the caves, in the third limestone bar of the system floor of the gorges of the Save. The first bar (superior) is the one that supports the castle of Lespugue; In the second (average) the cave of the Rideaux grew where the famous venus of Lespugue was discovered by René de Saint-Périer in 1922. The shelter is just below this cave, about 30 meters away. - on a steep slope - under the cave of the Bears (the latter being practically contiguous to the cave of the Curtains).

History: Michel Allard and Francis Juillard spot the sub-les-Rideaux shelter during an exploration in the late 1980s. It is explored by Pascal Foucher and Cristina San Juan (1998; 1999a; 2000a; 2001a) as part of a research project undertaken in 1997 on the Gravettien/Solutionen of the Central Pyrenees....