The grotto of Gargas is located in Mount Tibiran about three hundred
yards above the level of the valley, and about two miles southeast of
the village of Aventignan. Access to it is easy, since a road made by
Mr. Borderes in 1884 allows carriages to reach its entrance.
This grotto is one of the most beautiful in the Pyrenees, and presents
to the visitor a succession of vast halls with roofs that are curved
like a dome, or are in the form of an ogive, or are as flat as a
ceiling. It is easy to explore these halls, for the floor is covered
with a thick stalagmitic stratum, and is not irregular as in the
majority of large caves.
[Illustration: FIG. 1.--SECTION OF THE GROTTO OF GARGAS.]
Upon entering through the iron gate at the mouth of the grotto, one
finds himself in Bear Hall, wherein a strange calcareous concretion
offers the form of the carnivorous animal after which the room is
named. This chamber is about 80 feet in width by 98 in length. We
first descend a slope formed of earth and debris mostly derived from
the outside. This slope, in which are cut several steps, rests upon a
hard, compact, and crystalline stalagmitic floor. Upon turning to the
right, we come to the Hall of Columns, the most beautiful of all. Here
the floor bristles with stalagmites, which in several places are
connected with the stalactites that depend from the ceiling. This room
is about 50 feet square. After this we reach the Hall of Crevices, 80
feet square, and this leads to the great Hall of Gargas, which is
about 328 feet in length by 80, 98, and 105 in width. In certain
places enormous fissures in the vault rise to a great height. Some of
these, shaped like great inverted funnels, are more than 60 yards in
length. The grotto terminates in the Creeping Hall. As its name
indicates, this part of the cave can only be traversed by lying flat
upon the belly. It gives access to the upper grotto through a narrow
and difficult passage that it would be possible to widen, and which
would then allow visitors to make their exit by traversing the
beautiful upper grotto, whose natural entrance is situated 150 yards
above the present one. This latter was blasted out about thirty years
ago.
Upon following the direction of the great crevices, we reach a small
chamber, wherein are found the Oubliettes of Gargas--a vertical well
65 feet feet in depth. The aperture that gives access to this strange
well (rendered important through the paleontological remains collected
in it) is no more than two feet in diameter. Such is the general
configuration of the grotto.
In 1865 Dr. Garrigou and Mr. De Chastaignier visited the grotto, and
were the first to make excavations therein. These latter allowed these
scientists to ascertain that the great chamber contained the remains
of a quaternary fauna, and, near the declivity, a deposit of the
reindeer age.
As soon as it was possible to obtain a permit from the Municipal
Council of Aventignan to do so, I began the work of excavation, and
the persistence with which I continued my explorations led me to
discover one of the most important deposits that we possess in the
chain of the Pyrenees. My first excavations in Bear Hall were made in
1873, and were particularly fruitful in an opening 29 feet long by 10
wide that terminates the hall, to the left. I have remarked that these
sorts of retreats in grottoes are generally rich in bones. Currents of
water rushing through the entrance to the grotto carry along the
bones--entire, broken, or gnawed--that lie upon the ground. These
remains are transported to the depths of the cave, and are often
stopped along the walls, and lie buried in the chambers in
argillaceous mud. Rounded flint stones are constantly associated with
the bones, and the latter are always in great disorder. The species
that I met with were as follows: the great cave bear, the little bear,
the hyena, the great cat, the rhinoceros, the ox, the horse, and the
stag.
The stalagmitic floor is 1½, 2, and 2¼ inches thick. The bones were
either scattered or accumulated at certain points. They were generally
broken, and often worn and rounded. They appeared to have been rolled
with violence by the waters. The clay that contained them was from 3
to 6 feet in thickness, and rested upon a stratum of water-worn
pebbles whose dimensions varied from the size of the fist to a grain
of sand. A thick layer of very hard, crystalline stalagmite covers the
Hall of Columns, and it was very difficult to excavate without
destroying this part of the grotto.
I found that there anciently existed several apertures that are now
sealed up, either by calcareous concretions or by earthy rubbish from
the mountain. One of these was situated in the vicinity of the present
mouth, and permitted of the access to Bear Hall of a host of carnivora
that found therein a vast and convenient place of shelter.
[Illustration: FIG. 2.--SKELETON OF THE CAVE HYENA.]
These excavations revealed to me at this entrance, at the bottom of
the declivity, a thick stratum of remains brought thither by primitive
man. This deposit, which was formed of black earth mixed with charcoal
and numerous remains of bones, calcined and broken longitudinally for
the most part, contained rudely worked flint stones. I collected a few
implements, one surface of which offered a clean fracture, while the
other represented the cutting edge. According to Mr. De Mortillet,
such instruments were not intended to have a handle. They were capable
of serving as paring knives and saws, but they were especially
designed for scraping bones and skins. The deposit was from 26 to 32
feet square and from 2 inches to 5 feet deep, and rested upon a bed of
broken stones above the stalagmite. The animals found in it were the
modern bear (rare), the aurochs, the ox, the horse, and the stag--the
last four in abundance.
At the extremity of the grotto there is a well with vertical sides
which is no less than 65 feet in depth. It is called the Gargas
Oubilettes. Its mouth is from 15 to 24 inches in diameter, and
scarcely gives passage to a man (Fig. 1). Mr. Borderes, in the hope of
discovering a new grotto, was the first to descend into this well,
which he did by means of a rope ladder, and collected a few bones that
were a revelation to me. Despite the great difficulty and danger of
excavating at this point, I proceeded, and found at the first blow of
the pick that there was here a deposit of the highest importance,
since all the bones that I met with were intact. The first thing
collected was an entire skull of the great cave bear, with its
maxillaries in place. From this moment I began a series of excavations
that lasted two years.
The descent is effected through a narrow vertical passage 6½ feet in
length. The cavity afterward imperceptibly widens, and, at a depth of
12 yards, reaches 6½ feet in diameter, and at 15 yards 10 feet.
Finally, in the widest part (at a depth of 62 feet) it measures about
16 feet (Fig. 1).
A glance at the section of the well, which I have drawn as accurately
as possible (not an easy thing to do when one is standing upon a rope
ladder), will give an idea of the form of this strange pocket formed
in the limestone of the mountain through the most complex dislocations
and erosions. Two lateral pockets attracted my attention because of
the enormous quantity of clay and bones that obstructed them. The
first, to the left, was about 15 feet from the orifice. When we had
entirely emptied it, we found that it communicated with the bottom of
the well by a narrow passage. An entire skeleton of the great cave
bear had stopped up this narrow passage, and of this, by the aid of a
small ladder, we gathered the greater part of the skeleton, the state
of preservation of which was remarkable.
The second pocket, which was almost completely filled with clay, and
situated a little lower than the other, likewise communicated with a
third cavity that reached the bottom of the well. The clay of these
different pockets contained so large a quantity of bones that we could
hardly use our picks, and the excavation had to be performed with very
short hooks, and often by hand. In this way I was enabled to remove
the bones without accident. The lower pocket was dug out first, and
with extreme care, the bones being hoisted out by means of a basket
attached to a rope. Three or four candles sufficed to give us light.
The air was heavy and very warm, and, after staying in it for two
hours, it was necessary to come to the surface to breathe. After
extracting the bones from the lower pocket, and when no more clay
remained, we successively dug out the upper ones and threw the earth
to the bottom of the well.
On the 20th of December, 1884, my excavating was finished. To-day the
Oubliettes of Gargas are obstructed with the clay that it was
impossible to carry elsewhere. The animals that I thus collected in
the well were the following: The great bear (in abundance), the little
bear (a variety of the preceding), the hyena, and the wolf. The
pockets contained nearly entire skeletons of these species. How had
the animals been able to penetrate this well? It is difficult to admit
that it was through the aperture that I have mentioned. I endeavored
to ascertain whether there was not another communication with the
Gargas grotto, and had the satisfaction of finding a fissure that
ended in the cave, and that probably was wider at the epoch at which
the place served as a lair for the bear and hyena.
Very old individuals and other adults, and very young animals, were
living in the grotto, and, being surprised, without power to save
themselves, by a sudden inundation, reached the bottom of the well
that we have described. The entire remains of these animals were
carried along by the water and deposited in the pockets in the rock.
Once buried in the argillaceous mud, the bones no longer underwent the
action of the running water, and their preservation was thence
secured.--_F. Regnault, in La Nature._
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