Labastide caves – Wikipedia

THE Labastide caves , or Laspugue caves (sometimes written l’Aspugue ), are located in the town of Labastide, in the Hautes-Pyrénées department, Occitanie region, in France.

They form a set of karst origin, with a system of loss-resident.

The main cave, called “horses cave” or “labastide cave”, is a cave decorated dated from Magdalenien (upper Paleolithic), famous for its large polychrome horse associated with a notable archaeoacoustic effect.

The name “Laspugue” is a francization of the Occitan toponym ” spugue »Or« spelug », Derived from the word novel spulga (which appears in the second third of XIII ^{It is} century), itself derived from cave specifically meaning “fortified cave” ^{[ first ]} . It is found in the name of the Espeluges cave in Lourdes and the Lespugue caves in Haute-Garonne.

The caves are around 500 m west-southwest of the village, some 25 km east of Bagnères-de-Bigorre ^{[ 2 ]} .

They are located on the layout of the Grande Hike of Pays Tour des Baronnies de Bigorre.

Labastide caves belong to a karst network comprising three main caves: the horses (ornate cave), the loss cave and the white cave (unoccupied by man) ^{[ 3 ] , [ 4 ]} .

The whole crosses a massif of high hills (750 m at 769 m ) in the carbonated jura-cretacerous breaches (dolomies, limestones and marls).

The bowl in which the caves are made of sedimentary terrains ranging from the lower Gargasian-Albian (nomenclaturated N6-7-7M, N6-7AC and N6-7AU in the geological map) to the Upper Albian (N7B-CS and N7B-CF )) ^{[ 5 ]} .

Fossil sections of the cavity are located at different levels out of 200 m delating, marking the stages of the overcrowding as the loss is lowering ^{[ 6 ]} .

This “cave-tunnel” is a system of loss-resistant with a hypogeous river, in a upstream waterproof karst (known as “binary karst”). A waterproof substratum collects rainwater, which runs and creates a hydrographic network ^{[ 7 ]} . The cave river drains a pool of about 6 km ² which receives precipitation greater than 1,000 mm / and ^{[ 6 ]} .

The waters that are lost in these caves stand out in particular at the resurgence of cheese , alias Ayguette resurgence , on the territory of the municipality of Esparros ^{[ 8 ]} .

Scientific literature often designates it by the generic name of “Labastide cave”.

Its opening is at the bottom of a large cliff, at the bottom of a funnel, in a scree. It leads to a chassed abyss today ^{[ 9 ]} .

History [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

It is known by the inhabitants of the village and explored since the end of the XIX ^{It is} century, notably by Armand Viré ^{[ ten ]} . Norbert Casteret recognized parietal figures in 1932. Excavations were led there by Norbert Casteret, Henri Begouën, Georges Simonnet, Robert Simonnet, André Glory.

Description [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

a cavity of more than 500 m extension; A diverticulum oriented to the north opens to the right of the main gallery, at 190 m from the entrance. After 7 m , he is tightening in a narrow cat beam beyond which he resumes his initial width; This gallery ends a few meters further with a well that dives towards the lower floor. The cave was frequented to the bottom as attested with vestiges of engravings on the walls, around the well ^{[ 11 ]} .

Occupation [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

The material collected was awarded to the Magdalenian IV, an era confirmed by Henri Breuil ^{[ 11 ]} .

It was also frequented at the Holocene: the entrance delivered some shards of the Bronze Age and the Second Iron Age ^{[ 9 ]} .

She delivered at least 14 burials, including three children, located in the first 190 meters (before the flooded part of the gallery). These are body deposits, partial incineration, body cremation on-site ^{[ 9 ]} .

Parietal art [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

His parietal art includes engravings and paintings representing horses and bison but also ibex and reindeer, as well as a human figure and a feline head. The site has also delivered many engraved plates and cut contours representing bouquetin heads ^{[ twelfth ]} .

It is classified as historic monuments the August 3, 1983 ^{[ 13 ]} .

Archaeoacoustic [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

In the cave of horses is a diverticulum containing niches and red dots; A rising niche, in the shape of a throne, directly facing the panel in the lions ^{[ 14 ]} . The latter is sound: the echoes are important. However, many studies have now demonstrated the concordance between images and resonance places, these places being generally indicated by red points (with a correlation index of around 80% or 90%, up to 99 % for some places). The use of voice in this place, and perhaps musical, is certain. There is a high probability that it has been used for rituals associated with the images represented therein ^{[ 15 ]} .

In addition, the Labastide horses cave is one of those Paleolithic caves which have a resonance effect from one place to another, with privileged sound ties between certain places. In other words, a sound emitted in one place resonates in another place in the cave. This effect is found in the Portel; in Oxocelhaya ^{[ 16 ]} where the density of the red points in the lower part of the cave, associated with the rich sound of this place, is exceptionally high ^{[ 17 ]} ; to Kapova ^{[ 16 ]} where there is only one red point isolated on the upper floor, where it seems to serve as a benchmark both sound and steering – but on the lower floor most of the images have been degraded and the red dots who were able to exist there have probably disappeared ^{[ 18 ]} .

Lithic tools [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

• 

  Continuous retouching blade on two edges

• 

  Continuous retouching blade on two edges

Lamp [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

Around 1950, G. Simonnet ^{[ 11 ]} Find a lamp in the horses cave ^{[ 19 ] , [ 20 ]} made of a “entirely natural” stalagmital fragment (without shaping) ^{[ 21 ]} torn from a gour. It is elongated, very calm; Its surface is irregular and its reverse is convex, which brings a switch to the object. It measures 104.5 × 71 mm , for a thickness of 30 to 32 mm . It has two irregular natural cavities that communicate with each other: one makes 50 × 36.2 mm For a depth of 20 mm ; The other is 40 × 16 mm For a depth of 17 mm ^{[ 11 ]} . It has abundant traces of carbonization and rubber ^{[ 21 ]} On the pans of the bowls and the grooves, and the sides and around the reverse are blackened and rubbed ^{[ 11 ]} ; These traces are therefore located in a way that they demonstrate its use as a luminaire ^{[ 21 ]} . The fairly reduced dimension of this lamp is quite small and its open converts made the fat overflow and marked the edge of the reverse and the flanks ^{[ 11 ]} .

The charcoal residues present on the Margelle ^{[ 11 ]} were analyzed by the Zurich wood laboratory, which has not found any fibrous structure; So the material of the wick used was not wood but rather lichens or foams, effective materials for this function (they are still used by Eskimos) ^{[ 22 ]} .

She was 200 m of the entrance, just before the cat’s preceding the well; So in a dark area ^{[ 23 ] , [ 24 ]} .

She is part of the Simonnet collection ^{[ 11 ]} .

Foyer [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

François Rouzaud (1978) reports a deep cave home, as in Mas-d’Azil, in Montespan, Portel, Tuc d’Audoubert, in Labouïche ^{[ 25 ]} , in Fontanet (Magdalenian occupations). Pyrenean caves include the most combustion areas interpreted as domestic households ^{[ 26 ]} .

Deep cave fireplaces are relatively frequently lit in the Pyrenees ^{[ n 1 ]} But are less important than the homes of inhabited areas and perhaps testify to fast but repeated passages ^{[ 30 ]} . Some lamps are in relation to a particular structure, a home or a work of art ^{[ 30 ]} . Here, the bowl being marked by the action of the fire, “we can assume that the lamp was” preheated “in a home or that it was abandoned after use nearby or in the fire” ^{[ thirty first ]} .

Notes [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

References [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

Bibliography [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

• [Beaune 1987a] Sophie A. de Beaune, ” Paleolithic lamps and buckets », Gallia Prehistory , n ^O  23 « suppl. »,‎ 1987 ( read online [on persee ]) .
• [Beaune 2000] ‘ Paleolithic lighting techniques: a balance sheet », Paleo , n ^O 12, 2000 , p. 19-27 ( read online [on persee ]) .
• [Clot & Omnès 1979] André Clot and Jacques Omnès, ” First datages radiocarbon of the Magdalenian of Hautes-Pyrénées », Bulletin of French prehistoric society , vol. 76, n ^you 10-12 “Studies and works”, 1979 , p. 324-339 ( read online [on persee ]) .
• [GLORY, SIMONNET & SIMONNET 1947] André Glory, Robert Simonnet and Georges Simonnet, ” A Magdalenian hiding place with large flint blades in the Hautes-Pyrénées (Labastide cave) », Bulletin of the Prehistoric Society of France , t. 44, n ^you 5-6, May-June 1947 , p. 174-178 ( read online [on persee ]) .
• [Omnès & Clot 1982] Jacques Omnès and André Clot, The cave decorated with Labastide (Hautes-Pyrénées): with a paleontological study by André Clot (the illustrations are by J. Omnès, unless otherwise stated), Lourdes, 1982 , 352 p. ( Online presentation ) .
• [Omnès 1984] Jacques Omnès, «  The Magdalenian sanctuary of the Labastide cave (Hautes-Pyrénées. France) », Munibe , n ^O 36, 1984 , p. 19-26 ( read online [on Aranzadi.eus ], consulted the February 8, 2021 ) .
• [Simonnet 1947] Georges Simonnet, ” A new Magdalenian engraved stone brochure of the Grande Grotte de Labastide, commune of Labastide (Hautes-Pyrénées) », Bulletin of French prehistoric society , vol. 44, n ^you 1-2, 1947 , p. 55-64 ( read online [on persee ]) .
• [Simonnet 1988] Robert Simonnet (Operation Manager), ” Labastide – Horses cave. Ring of rock art », Adfi , 1988 ( read online [on journals.openedion.org ], consulted the February 8, 2021 ) .
• [Varanaa 20009] Nathalie Vanara, « The Labastide-Tunnel cave, some elements of reflection », Speleoc , n ^O 121, 2009 , p. 13-15 ( read online [on cdsc65.org ], consulted the February 8, 2021 ) . (of which the east-west of the karst system) cuts)

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