Cave of Tuc d'Audoubert

About

The cave of the Tuc d'Audoubert is located in the commune of Montesquieu-Avantès in the region of Volvestre (north of Couserans), in the department of Ariège, in the Piedmonts des Pyrénées, in the Occitanie region, France. It is a cave partly inhabited but above all a sanctuary of Magdalenian (higher Paleolithic), which delivered the very famous "statuary group of clay bison" (about 14,000 years before the present), numerous footprints of feet in the clay of the ground, an important parietal art with a large number of engravings and paintings, in addition to lithic tools and animal bones. It is part of the karst network of the caves of the Volp, a site classified including the cave of the Three Brothers and its iconic "shan dance"; and the cave of Enlene, one of the richest caves of the Ariegean Pyrenees in Magdalenian furniture with numerous engraved plaques. These three caves are part of the network of caves decorated with the Pyreneo-Cantabric chain and are closed to the public.