Grotte de Pair-non-Pair

Prignac-et-Marcamps

In March 1881, the archaeologist François Daleau discovered a small, almost filled-in cave on a hillside on the right bank of the Dordogne. He excavated it for years with a knife, sieving everything. As early as 1883 he noticed lines engraved on the walls, but he studied them only in 1896, after the discovery of La Mouthe. The engravings show ibex, horses, mammoths, bovids, cervids and a rare megaloceros, a large extinct deer. A horse with its head turned back was nicknamed ‘the Agnus Dei’ by its discoverers. These figures are attributed to the Aurignacian, more than 30,000 years ago; they are among the oldest known. The State bought the cave on 20 December 1900: it was the first decorated cave protected as a historic monument. The Centre des monuments nationaux offers visits in very small groups.

French Ministry of Culture — Grotte de Pair-non-Pair (monument national) ↗

Getting there: 2, chemin de Pair-non-Pair, 33710 Prignac-et-Marcamps, 7 km from Bourg, on the right bank of the Dordogne. National monument: booking compulsory, number of visitors very limited each day; closed on Mondays, 1 January, 1 May and 25 December; photography prohibited. Coordinates from OpenStreetMap.

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound