Alliat

Geography

Commune in the "Haute-Ariège" part of the Pyrenees located 15 km from the city of Foix and 5 km from the city of Tarascon-sur-Ariège, in the "Parc naturel régional des Pyrénées ariégeoises".

Population

Inhabitants of Alliat are called Alliatois.

Sights

The "cave of the cow (grotte de La Vache): the cave of the cow, with distinctive archeological strata discovered in its entry and in the "Salle Monique", opened to the public in 1979. It produced one of the richest collection of prehistorical objects from the Magdalenian era (12,000 to 14,000 years old), including a large number of harpoons and assegai points as well as more than 200 pieces of art: bones, engraved reindeer and red deer antlers, sculpture of animals, sometimes of humans, including of rare species for that period: panther, bear, wolves, salmon, antelope saïga and birds.

It was one of the first cave explored in Ariège by Félix Garrigou, before 1867. A second site was discovered in 1952 and was explored by its discoverer, Romain Robert, until 1964.

Fortified cave Spoulgas d’Alliat: located 100 m from the cave of the cow. Maps and descriptions available in "Monographies villageoises en Sabarthès", Florence Guillot, 1999.

Activities

Rock climbing around the caves

Horse ridding