The Grotte de la Marche or the birth of the portrait?
©Oscar FuentesOscar Fuentes and Geneviève Pinçon were Vincent Charpentier’s guests on France Culture on 30 August 2024 to talk about the La Marche cave.
With its highly realistic, even caricatured, human representations, the La Marche cave in Lussac-les-Châteaux (Vienne) is an exception in European Palaeolithic art. Could it be that Magdalenian hunters simply invented the portrait?
Lussac-les-Châteaux, in the heart of the Vienne region, has a number of caves that were occupied in prehistoric times. One of these is the grotte de La Marche, a vast, south-facing rock shelter at the foot of a cliff overlooking a small stream, the ruisseau du Moulin. It was occupied by a Magdalenian community that stayed there, probably several times, around 15,000 or 16,000 years ago. The engraved art at La Mache is quite exceptional, particularly the highly realistic human figures, which can be described as portraits.
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Pinçon, G., & Fuentes, O. (Guest Experts). (2024, August 30). La grotte de la Marche ou la naissance du portrait ? [Broadcast]. In France Culture - L’entretien archéologique. Internet. https://www.radiofrance.fr/franceculture/podcasts/l-entretien-archeologique/la-grotte-de-la-marche-ou-la-naissance-du-portrait-1893432
Musée d'archéologie nationale 
Pascaline Gaussein