Montespan

Montespan

Marquise de, title of Fran?oise Ath?na?s de Rochechouart. 1641--1707, French noblewoman; mistress of Louis XIV of France

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Montespan 

a large cave in Haute-Garonne Department, in southwestern France, in the foothills of the Pyrenees. It contains remains of the Upper Paleolithic Magdalenian culture.

Montespan was discovered by the French archaeologist N. Casteret in 1923. Engravings of bisons and horses were found on the walls. The figure of a headless bear modeled in clay was also discovered; a bear’s skull that had been originally attached to the figure was found nearby. Impressions of the feet of elderly persons and adolescents of 13 or 14 years of age were preserved on the clay floor. Montespan was the site of religious ceremonies, magic rituals, and, possibly, initiation rites of Paleolothic people.

REFERENCES

Okladnikov, A. P. Utro iskusstva. Leningrad, 1967.
Breuil, H. Quatre Cents Siecles d’art parietal. Montignac, 1952.
Trombe, F., and G. Dubuc. Le Centreprehistorique de Ganties — Montespan. Paris, 1947. (Archives de Vlnstitut de Paleontologie Humaine, transaction no. 22.)