37 years after its discovery, a replica of the prehistoric Cosquer cave is scheduled to open on June 4th, offering a simulated experience of the most inaccessible of the decorated caves ever discovered in France.
     At the time the artists were active, the region's climate was much like Norway is now, and the cave entrance was around 80 to 100 metres above sea level. The rise in sea level following the last Ice Age about 19,000 years ago obscured the mouth of the cave, until Henri Cosquer - a professional diver in search of new spots - chanced upon it one day in 1985, 37 metres below sea level.
     The chamber is approached through a perilous 175-metre-long submerged corridor which climbs gently. Not until 1991 does Cosquer notice the depictions of horses in the halo of his lamp. Other images are seen in photographs - horses, penguins, bison, hands in negative - all older than the rock art of Lascaux. Since then only scientists have been allowed to enter.

Edited from mProvence (10 January 2022)