Discovered by four boys in 1940, the Lascaux cave in southwestern France is considered the Sistine Chapel of prehistoric times thanks to paintings estimated to be 17,000 years old.
Experts from the National Institute for Archaeological Research (INRAP) were already called to the future landfill at the foot of the Costières de Nîmes in 2015. They quickly concluded that the site was inhabited by humans from around 20,000 BC until the 16th century.
As the institute’s representatives explained at a press conference, the site of the prehistoric camp, the gentle rise of Bellegarde, was probably a stopover for wandering hunters, as there was a spring and the site offered a good view of herds of wild horses crossing the great Camargue plain below.
During eleven months of excavations in 2016, archaeologists uncovered over 100,000 objects carved from flint (weapons and tools), animal bones and shells used as ornaments. Some of these objects were over 22,000 years old.
But the most important moment came when, while cleaning the collected objects, they realized that two small limestone slabs were decorated with engravings of horse profiles showing eyes, manes and also muzzles.
A plaque engraved with three horse profiles discovered in the Bellegarde camp.
Photo: Benali Inrap
These images are “particularly rare in the south-east of France and completely unexpected at the gates of the Camargue”, pointed out one of the archaeologists, Vincent Mourre. According to him, the engravings “are among the oldest known works for this Paleolithic culture, as well as the paintings and engravings in the cave of Lascaux”.
In a more recent level, about 16,000 years old, archaeologists discovered on a small tablet an engraving interpreted as a vulva framed by the top of the legs, and on a large, about fifty-centimeter slab, “thin incisions that are difficult to interpret.”
Source: eurozpravy.cz
