Rouffignac Cave
Grotte de Rouffignac · Cave of the Hundred Mammoths
Magdalenian ~13 ka BP·Magdalenian·🇫🇷 Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Dordogne, France
About
About Rouffignac Cave
Vast 8 km labyrinth called Cave of the Hundred Mammoths. Main 2 km electric-train gallery holds 158 mammoth figures — 70% of all French mammoth art — plus woolly rhinoceros, horses, ibex and tectiforms, executed in black manganese 13,000 BP with finger fluting by children. Known since 16th century, authenticated 1956 vs WWII graffiti claims. Clay ceiling preserves children's finger traces.
Why it mattersGreatest concentration of mammoth art in France; key for mammoth extinction chronology.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Why mammoth dominates here vs horse/bison elsewhere
- 025-year-old finger widths in ceiling grooves
Theories
- 01Initiation cave where children traced mammoth under guidance
- 02Mammoth memory in late Magdalenian before disappearance
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.13,000 BP (Magdalenian)
- Period
- Magdalenian ~13 ka BP
- Culture
- Magdalenian
- Builders
- Magdalenian groups of Dordogne
- Purpose
- Mammoth-dominated sanctuary with juvenile participation trace
- Excavation
- Excavation ongoing
c.13,000 BP (Magdalenian)
Initial construction
c. 1568 CE
Abandonment
On the ground
Structures & features
45.0028° N · 0.9936° E · 115 m · 2 mapped features
Great Ceiling Mammoth Herd
painting panelFrise of 10 mammoths on ceiling
45.0029° N · 0.9938° EClay Fluting Chamber
traceChildren's finger traces in clay
45.0027° N · 0.9934° E
Gallery