Cave of the Trois-Frères
{{Short description|Cave in France famous for its cave paintings}}
{{redirect|Trois Frères|the film|The Three Brothers (film)}}
{{Infobox ancient site
| name = Cave of the Trois-Frères
| native_name = Grotte des Trois-Frères
| alternate_name = Les Trois Frères
| image = File:Grotte du Tuc d'Audoubert - 1912.jpg
| image_size =
| alt =
| caption = Entrance to the Grotte du Tuc d'Audoubert, 1912
| map_type = France Occitanie
| map_alt =
| map_caption = Location in Occitania, France
| map_size = 240 px
| coordinates = {{coord|43|1|52|N|1|12|30|E|display=inline,title}}
| location = Montesquieu-Avantes, Occitania, France
| type = limestone karst cave complex
| part_of = Three cave-complex
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| built = {{circa|15,000}} years ago
| abandoned =
| cultures = Magdalenian
| dependency_of =
| occupants = Paleo Humans
| event =
| discovered = 1912 by Max, Jacques, Louis, and {{ill|Henri Begouën|fr}}
| excavations =
| archaeologists = Henri Breuil
| ownership =
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}}
The Cave of the Trois-Frères is a cave in southwestern France famous for its cave paintings. It is located in Montesquieu-Avantès, in the Ariège département.
The cave is named for three brothers ({{langx|fr|trois frères}}, {{IPA|fr|tʁwɑ fʁɛʁ|pron}}), Max, Jacques, and Louis Begouën, who, along with their father Comte {{ill|Henri Begouën|fr}}, discovered it in 1912.{{cite news |title=Young Folks Find Cave Art |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/88847854/discovery-of-the-cave-of-the-three/ |newspaper=The Independent Record |date=August 15, 1957 |page=12 |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=November 13, 2021}} The drawings of the cave were made famous in the publications of the Abbé Henri Breuil. The cave art appears to date to around 15,000 years ago.{{cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Trois-Freres |title=Trois Freres |publisher=Encyclopedia britannica |access-date= December 27, 2016}}
Artwork
One of the paintings, known as "The Sorcerer", is the "most famous and enigmatic human figure" with the features of several different animals, whose exact characteristics remain a matter of debate.{{cite web |url=http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/prehistoric/trois-freres-cave.htm#sorcerer |title=Trois Freres Cave, Ariege: Sorcerer Rock Engraving |publisher=Visual-arts-cork com |access-date= December 27, 2016}}
Engravings featuring what appear to be several birds and a cave cricket were found on a fragment of bison bone at the junction of Trois-Frères with the Grotte d'Enlène. The cave cricket was portrayed with such fidelity that the insect's species has been determined.{{cite book|last=Connell|first=Evan|title=The Aztec Treasure House|year=2001|publisher=Counterpoint|location=Washington, D.C.|isbn=1-58243-162-0|page=[https://archive.org/details/aztectreasurehou00conn/page/37 37]|chapter=Olduval & All That|chapter-url-access=registration|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/aztectreasurehou00conn/page/37}}{{Citation needed|reason=This sentence is copied directly from the reference, which does not elaborate or cite its own sources, making it uninformative.|date=February 2022}} It is thought to be the earliest known representation of an insect.Bégouën H., 1929: À propos de l'idée de fécondité dans l'iconographie préhistorique, Bulletin de la Société préhistorique française, 26, 3, pp 197–199.
A variety of engraved animals are found on the cave walls, including lions, owls, and bison. Of particular note is a horse overlaid with claviform (club-like) symbols,Sieveking, A., 1979: Cave Artists (Ancient Peoples and Places) and an apparently speared brown bear vomiting blood.Breuil H., 1930: Un dessin de la grotte des Trois frères (Montesquieu-Avantès) Ariège, Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, 74e année, N. 3, 1930. pp. 261–264.
Aside from the "Sorcerer", other human-like figures can be seen at Trois-Frères, such as the man-bison, and a character known as the "small sorcerer" who appears to be playing a nose-flute. Also of interest is an etched representation of a 59{{nbsp}}cm long phallus that follows the contours of the cave walls.Bégouën E., Bégouën M., 2013a: Découverte d'un grand phallus gravé magdalénien dans la grotte des Trois-Frères (Ariège), Bulletin de la Société Préhistorique Française, Tome 110, numéro 1, janvier-mars 2013, p. 127–129.
Tuc d'Audoubert
File:Musée des Antiquités Nationales - bisons Tuc d’Audoubert - 2015.jpg
The Trois-Freres cave is part of a single cave-complex formed by the Volp River. The complex is divided into three caves: the central Trois-Freres, Enlène ({{IPA|fr|ɑ̃lɛn}}) to the east, and the Tuc d'Audoubert ({{IPA|fr|tyk dodubɛʁ|pron}}) to the west.
The Tuc d'Audoubert was discovered by the three teenage brothers in 1912. The galleries are situated on three levels; the River Volp flows through the lowest, the middle contains decorated galleries known as the La Salle Nuptiale (The Bridal Room) and La Galerie des Gravures (The Gallery of Engravings), while the upper has further decoration in La Chatière and Salle des Talons (Hall of Claws) and finishes in the Salle des Bisons (Hall of Bisons).Bégouën R., Clottes J., 1991: Portable and Wall Art in the Volp Caves, Montesquieu-Avantès (Ariège), Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, 57, pp 65-79. In 2013, the Tracking in Caves project tested experience based reading of prehistoric footprints by specialised trackers of Ju/'hoansi San with great success.{{cite web |url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/06/130603113353.htm |title='Tracking in caves': On the trail of pre-historic humans -- ScienceDaily |publisher=sciencedaily |access-date= February 4, 2017}}
The Salle des Bisons contains two masterfully modeled bison, which were sculpted in clay with a stone spatula-like tool and the artist's fingers. The pair are among the largest and finest surviving prehistoric sculptures.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mBrvazPDFoYC&pg=PT36|title=Gardner's Art through the Ages: The Western Perspective, Volume 1|page=36|author=Kleiner, Fred|year=2009 |publisher=Cengage Learning |isbn=978-0495573609}}
References
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External links
{{Commons category|Grotte des Trois-Frères}}
- [http://donsmaps.com/cavepaintings3.html Cave Paintings and Sculptures]
{{Navbox prehistoric caves}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:Caves containing pictograms in France
Category:Landforms of Ariège (department)
Category:Caves of Occitania (administrative region)
Category:Art of the Upper Paleolithic