THE DANGER TO COSQUER CAVE ART:

Location of Cosquer Cave. Image from  thearchaeologist.org.

Diagram of Cosquer Cave. Image from thearchaeologist.org.

Rising sea levels – that, in a nutshell, is one of the greatest dangers to the magnificent art in Cosquer Cave, the undersea Paleolithic site in the Mediterranean off the coast of southern France. Sea levels have risen threatening art painted on the cave walls. The cave entrance is 37 meters (120 feet) below the Mediterranean and three cave divers died exploring the cave before the art was discovered. Indeed, the rising sea level has already claimed some of the paintings in the long passageway leading upward to the main chamber. So human induced climate change is now affecting our field of study – cave art.

Three horses, Cosquer Cave, France. Internet image, public domain. Note, the water level is right below the lower horses.  

Aurochs image, Cosquer Cave, France. Internet image, public domain. 

A project to record all of the art in detail has been led by a French archaeologist named Luc Vanrell, “the cave and its treasures, some dating back more than 30,000 years, are in grave danger. Climate change and water and plastic pollution are threatening to wash away the art prehistoric men and women created over 15 millenia. Since a sudden 12-centimeter (near-five-inch)rise in the sea level there in 2011 Vanrell and his colleagues have been in a race against time to record everything they can. Every year the high water mark rises a few more millimeters, eating away a little more of the ancient paintings and carvings.” (Rochiccioli 2022)

 

               

Bison, Cosquer Cave, France.  Image from bradshawfoundation.com.

“To reach the only place in the world where cave paintings of prehistoric marine life have been found, archaeologists have to dive to the bottom of the Mediterranean off southern France. Then they have to negotiate a 137 meter (yard) natural tunnel into the rock, passing through the mouth of the cave until they emerge into a huge cavern, much of it now submerged.” (Rochiccioli 2022)

                

The Great Auks, Cosquer Cave, France. Image from bradshawfoundation.com.

Ibex, Cosquer Cave, France. Image from bradshawfoundation.com.

“In the cave, marine animals make up a significant proportion of the figures. Auks, seals, fish and various markings that may represent jellyfish were painted or engraved on the walls. An auk can also be seen on the ‘ceiling’. This is probably a great auk, which was still widespread in the North Atlantic in the nineteenth century.” (Archaeologist 2022)

Megaceros, Cosquer Cave, France. Image from bradshawfoundation.com.

While there is no practical way to save the original art in the foreseeable future, the French are reproducing the art cave up on dry ground. “The idea of making a replica of the site was first mooted soon after the cave was discovered. But it wasn’t until 2016 that the regional government decided that it would be in a renovated modern building in Marseille next to Mucem, the museum of European and Mediterranean civilizations at the mouth of the city’s Old Port. Using the 3D data gathered by the archaeological teams, the 23-million-euro ($24-million) replica is slightly smaller than the original cave but includes copies of all the paintings and 90 percent of the carvings, said Laurent Delbos from Klebert Rossillon, the company which copied the Chauvet cave in 2015.” (Bartek 2022)

               

Inside the replica Cosquer Cave, France. Internet image, public domain.     

What an absolutely wonderful project, a three dimensional exact reproduction of the bulk of the cave and its art. Not content with just recording everything for posterity the French are reproducing the experience of visiting Cosquer Cave, and making it available to the people who would never have had a chance to dive to the real one.

NOTE: Some images in this posting were retrieved from the internet with a search for public domain photographs. If any of these images are not intended to be public domain, I apologize, and will happily provide the picture credits if the owner will contact me with them. For further information on these reports you should read the original reports at the sites listed below.

REFERENCES:

Archaeologist (The), 2022, The Paleolithic Mysteries of the Underwater ‘Cosquer Cave’ in France, 3 August 2022, https://www.thearchaeologist.org. Accessed online 9 July 2024.

Bartek, Jan, 2022, Race To Save Magnificent Underwater Stone Age Paintings Hidden In The Cosquer Cave, 6 June 2022, https://www.ancientpages.com. Accessed online 17 June 2024.

Rochiccioli, Pierre, 2022, Race to save undersea Stone Age cave art masterpieces, 30 May 2022, https://phys.org/news/. Accessed online 17 June 2024.