Grottes du Volp

About

The caves of the Volp are a network of cavities including three main prehistoric caves located in the municipality of Montesquieu-Avantès, in Ariège, on the northern edge of the Pyrenees (French Pyrenean foothills) in the Occitanie region. They were used mainly in Magdalenian and include a habitat cave, an adorned cave, called "sanctuary cave", and a mixed use cave. The cave of Enlène, inhabited place, is one of the richest of the Pyrenees in Magdalenian furniture.

The cave of the Tuc d'Audoubert, a grotto-sanctuary that has also been inhabited, has delivered among other things parietal figures representing unreal or fantastic animals; It is known for the remarkable statuary group known as "clay bison". The cave of the Three Brothers, another grotto-sanctuary, is home to one of the iconic figures of Magdalenian art: the "dancing shaman", and its about 1,300 engravings and paintings represent more than half of the parietal art of the Ariegean Pyrenees. Enlene and the Three Brothers being connected by a deep gallery widely used in the Magdalenian, a comparison is possible between the furniture art of Enlene and parietal art...