Cave Mayenne-Sciences

The Grotte Mayenne-Sciences is a Grotte decorated pertaining to the group with the Grottes of Saulges and located on the commune of Thorigné-in-Charnie in the Mayenne.

History

The presence of prehistoric vestiges under the porch is known of long time and of the Fouille S were carried out there by Chaplain-Duparc in 1876. The old excavations did not open any access to the cave.

It is only in 1967 that the speleological section Mayenne-Sciences, directed by Roger Bouillon, discovers the continuation of the cavity containing of the parietal figurations prehistoric (drawings and engravings). The site was consequently called cave Mayenne-Sciences .

parietal Art

A thesis was devoted to the art of the cave Mayenne-Sciences by Romain Pigeaud, who led to a monographic publication in 2004.

The cave contains today 59 representations, including 16 figures (9 horses, 2 mammoths, 1 bison, four unspecified), 19 signs, 12 layouts unspecified and especially 12 red digital layouts.

Datings with the carbon-14 (approximately 25.000 years) and a comparative study with the decorated caves quercinoises made it possible to propose one time Gravettien for the realization of the decoration of the decorated cave.

The cave Mayenne-Sciences is not the only septentrional decorated cave. We know two decorated caves in England (Church Hole and Robin Hood), two in Normandy (Gouy, Orival), three in the Essonne (Hook-Sailor, Boutigny, Three Pinions) and two in Burgundy (Cave of the Horse and Grande Cave of Arcy-sur-Cure). Since July 2005, of the paleolithic figurations were also discovered in the Grotte Margot, another of the caves of Saulges.

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