‘… mais nous nommons les places, elles ne font (pas) loing, & l’expérience vous en pourra rendre sages’.
The first know published reference to the cave art in the Périgord can be found in François de Belleforets’ (1575) La Cosmographie universelle de tout le monde.1 Within some 3000 pages, he compiled an atlas with descriptions of the entire world! The full entry for the Miremont (today better known as Rouffignac) caves reads (loosely translated from the old french):
‘ ..near Miramont, which is a small town in the Périgord, there is a cavern, or grottoes, which the natives of the country call cluzeau, of which those who enter there recount great wonders. They continue from five to six leagues (≈ 30 km) underground, and inside there are beautiful rooms, were one sees some altars and paintings in several places. As well as the traces or marks of several strong beasts, great and small.
Those who entered say that there are several sources and streams, and among others one which is from one hundred to 120 feet wide, and which runs with great steepness and speed, being otherwise very deep, beyond which no one dares to pass, although there is still a great expanse of grottoes. Also, only enter there in large groups, and with many torches and lanterns, because there is light only by the entrance. And carry provisions in case one gets lost.
Did those who describe these wonders to us invent them by themselves? Foreigners will laugh at this, and say that we want to talk about the faerie realms: but we name the places, they are not far, and experience will make you wise.’
He clearly does not claim to have visited the caves, but encourages his readers to have a look for themselves (and get the wiser). And although ‘they are not far’ few authors seem to have made the detour, instead they chose to copy his text. A nice example is the 1699 publication Le gentilhomme étranger voyageant en France;
‘Two leagues from the town there is a fountain whose water turns into stones of any shape you want: but among the most remarkable things there is a cave near Miramont called cluseau which extends five to six leagues underground. There are apartments paved with the Mosaic of the Altars adorned with beautiful paintings. Source of a river which is six-twenty feet wide, beyond which it is said there is a vast country where no one has yet had the boldness to go and plant colonies.’2
Whoa, that is almost 2 centuries before Jules Verne (1871) wrote Journey to the Center of the Earth! This was also allegedly repeated in Chesne (1609) Antiquitez et recherches de villes, chasteaux et places plus remarquables de toute la France, Coulon (1644) Les rivières de France, Alquié (1670) Délices de la France and Lagrange-Chancel (1730) Des antiquités et merveilles du Périgord. By 1821 however, Taillefer, referring to Brémontier and Chambon who had mapped, measured and actually visited the cave, writes;
‘… this famous cave of Miremont on which the ancient cosmographers debited a thousand reveries. They saw altars, mosaics, statues... which never existed there. In times of ignorance, one took for works of the hand of the man all these games whose nature is so prodigal in the calcareous caves, like all those of Périgord. Some people have tried to explain these dreams, saying that the encrustations could have covered all these marvels; and yet encrustations are very rare at Miremont, for such an extensive cave; besides, they are almost nowhere thick enough to expose the rock with a blow of a hammer.’3
And Brémontier and Chambon were not the only cartographers, at least three surveys were undertaken between 1765 and 1824 4. One of these was supposedly used as basis by the local (Terrassonnais) painter Bouquier and engineer Bremontier. Though Soubeyran 5 dates the map of Gabriel Bouquier, to a visit in 1759, so ‘semble le plus ancien’. Two more surveys were conducted during the 19th century: one by Couasnard and Lapradélie in 1840–45 (lost and never relocated) and priest Hippolyte Brugière about 1880. So when Martel arrived in 1893, he had access to at least five different maps to which he (and Rupin and Lalande), added a sixth in 1894 (updated in 1914).
On none of these surveys nor maps any reference to cave art. Hugo A. (1835) dedicated over a column of his book France pittoresque 6 to ‘one of France’s beautiful caves’, describing stalactites and stalagmites, crystallization in various shapes including cauliflowers and precised that: ‘The imaginations of the first visitors had changed the small stream in a 120 feet river, on the other side of which, they said, one could find a beautiful country’. But no mention of human-made decorations on the walls or ceilings…
After the arrival of the railway (that accidentally helped in the discovery of the prehistory) Les Eyzies became a travel destination. Port (1867) gave in his guide De Paris a Agen: par Vierzon, Chateauroux, Limoges et Périgueux 7 descriptions of all train stations on the line and for Les Eyzies suggested an excursion to the cave close to Rouffignac, easier reached from Les Eyzies but would require at least, from whatever starting point, half a day’s travel.
You were advised to stock up on provisions for lunch, candles and matches, and that ‘Les dames doivent à l'avance faire le sacrifice de toute toilette embarrassante ou courant risque de se gâter’. He further recommends the services of the family living at the farm just under the cave that since 110 years transfers the knowledge about the cave from father to son. Warning that in 1865 an unfortunate group had to be rescued and was found ‘exhausted in strength and courage and already half dead from fear and cold’ after having enlisted the services of someone else.
Amazingly it would take until the end of the 1940's, for a group of cavers exploring the galleries to noticed several images, though not realizing their age and importance. And it was not until the 26th June 1956 that a visiting group of including Romain Robert and Louis-René Nougier (two prehistorians from the Pyrenees), realized the potential archaeological value of the cave.
Though the idea of Palaeolithic rock art had been validated since the turn of the century (see The discovery of the pre-history post), a whole new controversy erupted on their authenticity. In 1957 Rouffignac became a listed site and opened (as an archeological attraction) to the public in 1959. A lot of research has been done and a lot has been published since the rock art was finally ‘seen’ and ‘we all became the wiser’.
This post continues here: Rouffignac prehistoric cave-art.
NB. We do not just name the references, most come with clickable links, check for yourself and become wise.
Belleforets F. de, 1575. Cosmographie universelle. Accessible through the Gallica.
Moreri L., 1699. Le Gentilhomme étranger voyageant en France. Leyde, Baudouin Vander, 1699. Accessible through Cour de France.
Taillefer, Wlgrin de H., 1821. Antiquités de Vésone, cité gauloise, remplacée par la ville actuelle de Périgueux, ou Description des monumens religieux, civils et militaires de cette antique cité et de son territoire. Précédée d'un essai sur les Gaulois par m. le comte Wlgrin de Taillefer. Accessible through perma link.
Gauchon C., Boche E. et Jaillet S., 2013. A masterpiece of historic cave surveying : several representations of Miremont-Rouffignac cave, (Dordogne, France), XVIII-XIXTH centuries. Conference Paper · History of Speleology and Karst Research 2013 ICS Proceedings. Accessible through research gate.
Soubeyran M., 1990. Une reconnaissance tardive : la grotte de Rouffignac ou «vous qui passez sans les voir». In: Paléo. N.1, 1990. Une histoire de la préhistoire en Aquitaine. pp. 51-53; Accessible through Persée.
Hugo A.(1835). France pittoresque: ou description pittoresque, topographique et statistique des départements et colonies de la France. Paris : Delloye, 1835. Tome premier, p. 308-309 Accessible through the internet archive.
Port C., 1867. De Paris a Agen: par Vierzon, Chateauroux, Limoges et Périgueux. Collection des guides-Joanne. Accessible through Google user content.