Grotte Cosquer

The Cosquer Cave is a Palaeolithic decorated cave located in the Calanque de la Triperie, in Marseille, at the foot of Pointe de la Voile, near Cap Morgiou. Based on carbon-14 dating of the cave paintings, it was frequented between 33,000 and 18,500 years Before Present (BP). The cave contains more than 517 parietal figures corresponding to two periods of occupation: one Gravettian (27,000 years BP) and the other Epigravettian or Solutrean (19,000 years BP).

It is also the only decorated cave known to date whose entrance opens underwater: its only human-penetrable entrance is a submarine siphon. It is located 37 m below sea level. During the last glaciations, the Mediterranean Sea level was 110 to 120 m lower and the coastline 8 km further away, allowing Palaeolithic humans to access it directly on dry land via an ascending gallery forming the upstream branch of the siphon, where they left their parietal masterpieces.

The cave is named after Henri Cosquer, the diver who reported it in 1991.