La grotte de Cussac (Dordogne)

The recently discovered (2000) Cussac Cave is one of the major elaborately decorated caves for which the Ministry of Culture immediately invoked protective measures, including climatic controls and land and equipment purchases. A multi- and inter-disciplinary research programme was launched in 2009 as part of a Projet collectif de recherche (PCR) (A Collaborative Research Project) that provides for integrated conservation with study. Aside from its large size (1.6 km) and—due to the efforts of the speleologists who found the cave—its excellent state of preservation, Cussac Cave is distinctive because of the co-occurrence of uniquely engraved decorated panels, often of a monumental size, and contemporaneous human remains found in three locations. As in all other recently discovered decorated caves, the current study project is ambitious and holistic. The current research is, however, very focussed in scope, concentrating principally on ichnology (fossilised animal and human imprints), biological anthropology, and archaeothanatology. After the first few years of the initial stages of this multi-disciplinary project, the last few years have seen the successful integration of the work of geoscientists, anthropologists, ichnologists, experts in parietal art, and prehistorians with the application of new technological innovations, such as topographic mapping, 3D imaging, and geographic information systems. The following text provides an overview of some of these research endeavours.