Le Mas-d'Azil (; oc, Lo Mas d'Asilh) is a

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

in the Ariège

department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

in southwestern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, containing a cave that is the

typesite In archaeology, a type site is the site used to define a particular archaeological culture or other typological unit, which is often named after it. For example, discoveries at La Tène and Hallstatt led scholars to divide the European Iron Ag ...

for the prehistoric

Azilian The Azilian is a Mesolithic industry of the Franco-Cantabrian region of northern Spain and Southern France. It dates approximately 10,000–12,500 years ago. Diagnostic artifacts from the culture include projectile points (microliths with rou ...

culture. The ''Grotte du Mas d'Azil'' (sometimes hyphenated, sometimes not) is a "supersite" with rich remains of human usage from about 30,000 years ago, and is also a key site for the preceding

Magdalenian The Magdalenian cultures (also Madelenian; French: ''Magdalénien'') are later cultures of the Upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic in western Europe. They date from around 17,000 to 12,000 years ago. It is named after the type site of La Madele ...

culture. The D119 road runs right through the large cave, which is a natural tunnel 420 metres long and 50 metres high.;

Population

References

Communes of Ariège (department) Archaeological sites in France Azilian Ariège communes articles needing translation from French Wikipedia {{Ariège-geo-stub

Population

See also

References