PRIGNAC-ET-MARCAMPS, France - Well off the beaten path in the Aquitaine, Grotte de Pair-Non-Pair is one of the oldest decorated caves in the world. The walls are covered with carvings of bison, horses, goats, and mammoths dating to 30,000 BC. The murals are striking for the sophisticated way in which artists used features of the rock as elements of the picture: For example, a fossil on one wall serves as a bison’s eye. Because of limited space, some animals are superimposed on others, so that the rump of a horse becomes the shoulder of a bison.
Ancient signs of survival, carved in stone
Even in prehistoric times, it seems, what made real estate desirable was location, location, location. Our guide emphasized that this out-of-the way cave had a running spring, a natural opening in the roof for smoke to escape, and a hillside perch that hid its occupants from roving marauders. Archeologists believe it was occupied for 60,000 years by Cro-Magnons, Neanderthals, and eventually homo sapiens. It has yielded 15,000 tools and 6,000 bone fragments from 60 animal species
The cave’s name was a matter of evolution. At one time the owner of the site was a man named Penot. Since he had a son by the same name, he was known as Penot the father, or Penot pere, a moniker that eventually morphed into Pair-Non-Pair.
Grotte de Pair-non-Pair, 33710 Prignac-et-Marcamps, 011-33-557-683-340,http://pair-non-pair.monuments-nationaux.fr .Tuesday through Sunday.Adults about $10, under age 18 free.
ELLEN ALBANESE
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