The Cave of a Hundred Mammoths revisited

The Rouffignac Cave, in the French commune of Rouffignac-Saint-Cernin-de-Reilhac in the Dordogne département, contains over 250 engravings and cave paintings dating back to the Upper Paleolithic. In conjunction with other caves and abris of the Vézère valley, the cave was classified a Monument historique in 1957 and a World Heritage Site in 1979 by UNESCO as part of the Prehistoric Sites and Decorated Caves of the Vézère Valley. Although mentioned in the 16th century, it was only in 1956 that Louis-René Nougier and Romain Robert, two prehistorians from the Pyrenees, rediscovered and confirmed the cave art.

The Cave of the Hundred Mammoths, also known as Miremont cave, Cro des Cluzeau or Cro de Granville, is about 5 km (3.1 mi) south of Rouffignac on a hill slope along the right-hand side of the La Binche river. The rocks of the cave are flat-lying limestones belonging to the uppermost Coniacian, which are very rich in flint nodules. The Rouffignac cave and the Villars Cave possess the most extensive cave system of the Périgord, with more than 8 km (5.0 mi) of underground passageways.

The plan of the cave reveals a fractal-like dendritic pattern that is not random but organized along certain preferred directions, presumably formed during the Pliocene around 3 to 2 million years ago. The Rouffignac cave was mentioned in 1575 by François de Belleforest, who cited "paintings and animal traces. In the 19th century, the cave was known as a tourist attraction, and famous archeologists such as Henri Breuil, André Glory and Édouard-Alfred Martel had visited the cave in the early 20th century.

During the Second World War, the cave served as a hide-out for the French Résistance. In 1959, the cave was officially opened for visitors.

Visitors of the cave board an electric train that takes them about 2 km (1.2 mi) into the interior. While the artistic representations are mainly engravings or black contour drawings and are not polychrome, the animal representations take on a prominent role, especially the mammoths. Additionally, the cave contains 17 tectiform signs and 6 serpentiform signs, along with finger flutings that decorate walls and ceilings. Though the lack of artifacts makes direct dating difficult, the style of the representations can be attributed to the Middle Magdalenian, about 13,000 years BP.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons