A painted bison from the Cosquer cave

The Cosquer cave is located in the Calanque de Morgiou near Marseille, France, not very far from Cap Morgiou. This cave, which entrance is nowadays located underwater, was disovered by Henri Cosquer in 1991. city flag coat of arms Motto: By her great deeds, Marseille shines in the world Coordinates : , Time Zone : CET (GMT +1) Administration Subdivisions 16 arrondissements (in 8 secteurs) Département Bouches-du-Rhône (13) Région Provence-Alpes-Côte dAzur Mayor Jean-Claude Gaudin (UMP) (since 1995... 1991 (MCMXCI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Description

Today, the grotto can be accessed through a 175-meter long tunnel, the entrance of which is located 37 meters under the level of the sea.

20,000 years ago, during the last glaciation, large volumes of water were retained in enormous ice capes, making the level of the sea 110 to 120 meters lower than today. The shore of Mediterranean sea was then several kilometers away from the grotto. The Wisconsin (in North America), Weichsel (in Scandinavia), Devensian (in the British Isles), Midlandian (in Ireland) or Würm glaciation (in the Alps) is the most recent period of the Ice Age, and ended some 10,000 Before Present (BP). ... The Mediterranean Sea is an intercontinental sea positioned between Europe to the north, Africa to the south and Asia to the east, covering an approximate area of 2. ...

The Art of Cosquer Cave

This cave contains several dozen painting and carvings dating back to Upper Paleolithic, matching two different phases of occupation of the cave: The Upper Paleolithic (or Upper Palaeolithic) is the third and last subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age as it is understood in Europe, Africa and Asia. ...

• Older drawings of hand stencils and other related motifs, dating back to 27,000 BP (Gravettian)
• Newer drawings of signs and animal drawings dating back to 19,000 BP (Solutrean), representing both "classical" animals such as bisons, ibexes, and horses but also marine animals such as seals and what appear to be penguins and medusas.

Before Present (BP) years are the units of time (counted backwards to the past) used to report raw radiocarbon ages and dates referenced to the BP scale origin in the year AD 1950 (identical to 1950 CE). ... The Gravettian was an industry of the European Upper Palaeolithic. ... Before Present (BP) years are the units of time (counted backwards to the past) used to report raw radiocarbon ages and dates referenced to the BP scale origin in the year AD 1950 (identical to 1950 CE). ... The Solutrean industry was an advanced flint tool making style of the Upper Palaeolithic. ... Species B. bison B. bonasus B. priscus Bison is a taxonomic genus containing six species of large even-toed ungulates within the subfamily Bovinae. ... Species Capra ibex Capra nubiana Capra pyrenaica Capra sibiria Capra walie See also Ibex (vehicle) ifor the specialist off-road vehicle, and the Ibex Valley. ... Binomial name Equus caballus Linnaeus, 1758 The horse( (Equus caballus sometimes seen as a subspecies of the Wild Horse, Equus ferus caballus) is a large odd-toed ungulate mammal, one of ten modern species of the genus Equus. ... Families Odobenidae Otariidae Phocidae A pacific walrus A leopard seal on Kerguelen Pinnipeds (fin-feet, lit. ... Modern Genera Aptenodytes Eudyptes Eudyptula Megadyptes Pygoscelis Spheniscus For extinct genera, see Systematics Penguins (order Sphenisciformes, family Spheniscidae) are an order of aquatic, flightless birds living in the Southern Hemisphere. ... A relatively modern image of Medusa painted by Arnold Böcklin In Greek mythology, Medusa (Greek: Μέδουσα), was a monstrous female character whose gaze could turn people to stone. ...

See also

• The main article on Cave painting

Cave or rock paintings are paintings painted on cave or rock walls and ceilings, usually dating to prehistoric times. ...

External links

• Prehistory and coastal karst area: Cosquer Cave and the “Calanques” of Marseille
• Official French Ministry of Culture pages on The Cosquer Cave

References

• Jean Clottes, Jean Courtin, La grotte Cosquer, Seuil, 1994, ISBN 2-02-019820-7 (French)
• Jean Clottes, Jean Courtin, Luc Vanrell, Cosquer redécouvert, Seuil, 2005, ISBN 2-02-065550-0 (French)
• The Cave Beneath the Sea: Paleolithic Images at Cosquer by Jean Clottes and Jean Courtin (1996) Harry N. Abrams, Inc., New York ISBN 0-8109-4033-7 English translation by Marilyn Garner from the French edition