Grotte dite Sous le Grand Lac
MonumentHidden Treasure
Grotte dite Sous le Grand Lac, located in Meyrals (Dordogne), is a historic monument. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- autre
- Location
- Meyrals, Dordogne, Nouvelle-Aquitaine
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 44.9274, 1.0721
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00082645
Nestled beneath the Grand Lac, this decorated cave of Meyrals contains parietal remains from the Upper Palaeolithic, silent witnesses to a creative humanity more than 15,000 years old at the heart of the Périgord noir.
History
In the wooded valley bordering Meyrals, in the heart of the Périgord Noir, the cave known as Sous le Grand Lac opens discreetly in the limestone rock like a whispered confidence from prehistory. Just a few kilometres from the famous sites of the Vézère valley, this underground sanctuary belongs to the exceptional constellation of decorated caves that has earned the region the nickname of "world capital of prehistoric art". What makes this place so special is the intimacy of its discovery. Far from the mass tourist circuits, the Sous le Grand Lac cave preserves a rare atmosphere of contemplation. The limestone walls here preserve traces of human occupation dating back to the Upper Palaeolithic, that pivotal period - between 40,000 and 10,000 BC - when Homo sapiens asserted his symbolic awareness through rock art of astounding sophistication. A visit to this type of site immerses the visitor in a world where the boundary between the human and the mineral becomes blurred. The natural concretions, the play of light and shadow in the galleries and the constant coolness of the underground air create a setting of particular intensity. Here, more than anywhere else, we sense the fragile continuity that links our era to the first artists of humankind. The outdoor setting also contributes fully to the experience, with the causse and forest landscapes of the Périgord Noir enveloping the site in an unspoilt serenity, far from the hustle and bustle of the main tourist routes. Meyrals, a rural commune steeped in the gentle Sarladais way of life, provides the ideal natural setting for this world heritage site buried in the rock.
Architecture
The Sous le Grand Lac cave is a natural site of the Périgord karst type, shaped by the thousand-year-old dissolution of Cretaceous limestone under the action of seeping water. Like most of the decorated caves in the region, its interior is made up of galleries of varying dimensions, with light-coloured limestone walls offering naturally smooth surfaces, ideal for the pigments and engravings used by Palaeolithic artists. The Upper Palaeolithic caves of the Périgord region generally feature parietal representations executed using several complementary techniques: black charcoal or manganese line drawings, red ochre applied flat or as a wash, clay modelling, and engravings incised into the rock. The artists knew how to exploit the natural relief of the rock face - protuberances, hollows, cracks - to give volume and life to their animal figures. The most common representations in this geographical area are the bison, horse, mammoth, woolly rhinoceros and deer. The cave's immediate surroundings are typical of the Périgord Noir landscape: a slightly overhanging cliff or limestone shelter, protected by dense vegetation of pubescent oak and hornbeam, in a damp valley that is ideal for the formation of a small water table or lake - which is explicitly evoked by its name, "Sous le Grand Lac" ("Under the Great Lake"). This particular topography, combining the presence of water and the natural protection of rock, corresponds precisely to the criteria that Palaeolithic man sought to establish his sanctuaries.
Related Figures
Les artistes anonymes du Paléolithique supérieur — auteurs des représentations pariétales, probablement membres de groupes de chasseurs-cueilleurs magdaléniens ou solutréensÉdouard Lartet (1801-1871) — paléontologue et préhistorien pionnier, premier à documenter scientifiquement les grottes ornées du PérigordLouis Capitan (1854-1929) — préhistorien français dont les recherches en Dordogne contribuèrent à cartographier le patrimoine rupestre régionalDenis Peyrony (1869-1954) — instituteur et préhistorien sarladais, infatigable découvreur de sites paléolithiques en Périgord noirAndré Leroi-Gourhan (1911-1986) — ethnologue et préhistorien qui révolutionna l'interprétation de l'art pariétal et influença la connaissance de tous les sites de la région
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Grotte dite Sous le Grand Lac located?
Grotte dite Sous le Grand Lac is located in Meyrals, Dordogne department, Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, France.
Is Grotte dite Sous le Grand Lac open to visitors?
Grotte dite Sous le Grand Lac is currently closed to visitors.