Grotte du Mas-d'Azil

Grotte du Mas-D'azil-Krasowa Cave located in southwestern France in the Planturel massif in Pyrenees, in the Leas-D'azil commune in the Ariège department, about 60 km south of Toulouse. Eponimical archaeological position for Asylum culture. From 1942 he has the status of a monument historique in the classé category.

The cave consists of a complex gallery and corridors system, located on three levels. Inside the cave, at a length of 420 m, the Arize river flows, flowing outside with a 50 m wide open and 65 m high. The part of the cave is 500 m long, piercing along the Planturel massif. A road was built in 1859 through the tunnel, the current national road D 119.

The first archaeological finds in the cave were associated with the construction of the road in the mid -nineteenth century. In the years 1887–1897 édouard Piette carried out excavations on the left bank of the Arize River, discovering Magdalene layers with art monuments in the form of stone tiles covered with rites, and rites and bas -reliefs performed in antlers. Piette also revealed the latelyolitic layers of the previously unknown archaeological culture, which he gave the name asylum. In the years 1901–1905 Henri Breuil examined the part of the cave on the right bank of the Arize River, discovering the traces of a cave bear's mother and a set of rock paintings and rites from the Magdalese culture period.

The rich inventory of archaeological finds from the cave includes, among others Made of a black and red dye, rock paintings, pebbles decorated with ochra, a women's skull with reindeer vertebrae imitating eyes, bones on bones and bone figurines in the form of, among others horse head and phallus.

The cave was also used later: in the 3rd century it was the place of meetings of the first Christians, while in the 17th century it served as a shelter to persecuted Protestants.