Grottes de Cougnac

Payrignac

On a hill in the Quercy, near Gourdon, the prehistorian Jean Mazet found a first cave on 3 November 1949, lined with concretions. On 23 November 1952, with four companions, he opened the entrance to a second cavity, this one decorated. About sixty metres from the entrance, a thirteen-metre frieze lines up three megaloceroses, ibex, a mammoth, a deer and human figures. The lines are in charcoal or ochre crayon. Two men pierced by lines remain an enigma: spurts of blood or planted spears, specialists hesitate. The abbé Breuil, who came to see the mammoths, is said to have declared that ‘these drawings are authentic’. The cave was listed as a historic monument on 19 May 1954. Charcoal sampled in 1990 and 1992 by Michel Lorblanchet and Hélène Valladas gave at least 23,000 years for the megaloceroses and about 14,000 years for dotted signs. Two visits some nine thousand years apart, or a refreshing of the drawings: the question is open. Cougnac has 505 motifs, of which 474 are signs and only 25 are animals.

Tourisme Occitanie — Grottes préhistoriques de Cougnac ↗

Getting there: 53, route de Milhac, 46300 Payrignac, 4 km from Gourdon. Two caves can be visited with a guide: the mineral cave (concretions) and the decorated cave; booking online or by telephone; no photos in the prehistoric section; not accessible to people with reduced mobility. Coordinates from OpenStreetMap.

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

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