France's Cosquer cave: 20,000 years under the sea • FRANCE 24 English

In the creeks near Marseille, 37 metres underwater, lies the only submerged cave on the planet that's covered with cave paintings. On its damp walls, people have painted horses, bison, ibex and even penguins - animals that were present in the south of France during the Ice Age. The oldest paintings date back some 27,000 years.
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[@stefananslow2441]

Been there 20,000 years just fine but now it’s gonna flood because of global warming 😂😂😂😂😂

[@robertvermeer5951]

Why throw away loads of money to make copies when they can just film it and make photo's?? I'd rather see the real thing anyway.

[@manlyphal959]

They should build a damn around it and pump out the water and secure the place. The replica can never replicate the real magic of it. I'd rather see someone filming the real than be at the replica

[@lenrichardson7349]

Many question from people who are not aware of the layout of the cave. The entrance is underwater but the cave itself is just above the water. From the entrance you rise up a sloping tunnel until you reach the cave, also rising above the water level as you do. The cave is not air tight, the rock being porous, so the entrance can not be sealed to save it from the rising water.

[@Lmtaytay]

For the money they put into the replica, they could have shut off the entrance and drilled down from the top.

[@Abraxus81]

24 million sounds like a lot for a copy at first, but they made the money back in a few years and then they made a profit. The 800,000 visitors in the first year alone brought in between 4-6 million from admission. They also sell souvenirs. This gives young and old the opportunity to take a look into the past, even if the original cave will soon be gone. The investment makes sense.

[@rikmacg1288]

I would like to know if any of the paintings are under the water. That would show if the cave really was exposed at one time.

[@johnhenderson1443]

they need to block off the entrance and use extremely high flow pumps and pump out all the water :)

[@aidanconvery7460]

Lime kills fish in water - primitive fishing method

[@StrGrpp4]

is it possible to tunnel down and create an entrance instead of having to swim?

[@FenderJunkie100]

Excellent intro. Well done

[@jcrodriguez830]

We really are capable of some great things

[@flex1661]

Nice! Now lets make some condos on them

[@WooBino.]

Couldnt they drain it like bridge footings?

[@twistpv]

Warrior/ hunters right of passage challenge test to reach

[@michaelvivirito]

How can we prove the paintings are as old as they say?

[@deivakumarkumar4857]

How Oxygen is possible there?

[@JacobSteinberg75]

I doubt people made this