Pech Merle
Click on the photos to see an enlarged version
Photo: From http://www.quercy.net/pechmerle/english/introduction.html
Cabrerets and the Pech Merle site. Note the white limestone evident throughout the area.
Pech Merle is a cave in the south of France in the Department called Lot. (Quercy is the pre-Napoleonic name of the province, still in popular use.) It is at an elevation of 280m on the eastern side of the hill called Pech Merle.
Pech Merle was discovered in 1922 by two teenagers, André David and Henri Dutertre, when they were 16 and 15 years old respectively. The examination of the paintings and engravings was immediately begun by Father Amédée Lemozi, the priest of Cabrerets. The galleries of the cave are on average 10 m wide and the height of the ceilings is about 5 to 10 m. There are two levels of the cave, but there are only paintings on the first level. 300 m of the walls are painted.
(the text following is from the excellent site http://www.quercy.net/pechmerle/english/introduction.html)
Why is it called "Pech Merle"? In the lower third of France is a southern Latin culture called langue d'oc or occitan. Pech is the french writing of the occitan word puèg which means a hill. We pronounce it as in "fresh". It appears in the name of many localities, written pech, puech, pioch, pey, and you can read it on the signs of the regional roads. In old french, the word is puy, as in "Puy de Dome". Merle is sometimes translated as blackbird, so we can think of the name as Blackbird Hill.
Pech Merle is near the small village of Cabrerets.
Photo: From http://vm.kemsu.ru/en/palaeolith/pesh-merl.html
Photo of the surface of the site with superimposed plan of the cave.
Mammoth Pech-Merle
Photo from: Agenda de la Préhistoire 2002 - 2003, a superb diary with excellent illustrations sent to me by Anya. My thanks as always.
Pech-Merle (Lot), détail de la frise noire. Mammouth.
Painting of a mammoth in black. An attempt has been made to indicate the beast's characteristic long heavy coat, and the domed head is clearly shown. The original is about 31.5 inches long.
Photo: Man before history by John Waechter
A hand stencil on the wall at Pech Merle
Photo: Man before history by John Waechter
Other caves close by, but not open to the public include:
Le Cuzoul des Brasconies, La grotte Carriot, La grotte Christian, La grotte des Faux-Monnayeurs, La grotte du Cantal, Le Cuzoul de Mélaniev, La grotte Marcenac, La grotte de Sainte Eulalie, La grotte du Papetier, La grotte du Moulin, La grotte de la Bigourdane, La grotte de Pergouset.
See: http://www.quercy.net/pechmerle/lot_cele_fr.html
The Grottes de Cougnac contains images from the paleolithic. There were 60 images of animals, 50 outlines of hands, and 3 images of humans found.
Grand bouquetin rouge (Grotte) de Cougnac. Lot.
Large Ibex from the Cougnac Cave, in the Lot region.
Photo from: Agenda de la Préhistoire 2002 - 2003, a superb diary with excellent illustrations sent to me by Anya. My thanks as always.
This page last modified Monday 13 December 2004
If you have any photographs or information which would be useful for this site please contact Don Hitchcock
Webmaster: Don Hitchcock
Hitchcock Lane
Armidale NSW 2350
Australia
Email: don@donsmaps.com
Photo: From http://www.quercy.net/pechmerle/english/introduction.html 
