France 3 Nouvelle-Aquitaine / YouTube
Illustrious dogs have allowed great scientific advances or major discoveries in the history of mankind. Robot is one of them, since he would have been at the origin of the discovery of the Lascaux Cave 80 years ago.
On September 8, 1940, France was partly invaded by the German army. In Dordogne, we were not in occupied territory. This is where Jacques Marsal , Georges Agniel , Simon Coencas and Marcel Ravidat lived, a group of teenagers who, that day, were walking in the hills at Montignac . Beside them stood Robot , Marcel Ravidat’s dog .
Attracted by a rabbit , the Burrow started to run after the lagomorph at full speed. The 4 boys followed the canine, which entered a narrow cavity . The place was of great interest to the quartet because rumors then reported underground galleries leading to a castle or hiding a treasure . It was therefore equipped with a few tools that they returned to the scene 4 days later, on September 12, 1940, without knowing that they were about to make one of the greatest discoveries in the history of the humanity .
They arrived in a room whose walls were covered with superb frescoes and engravings representing animals and dating from the Upper Paleolithic . In other words, they were made about 18,000 years ago.
Excavations were subsequently undertaken there. They made it possible to list a total of 680 frescoes and 1500 engravings. The site has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979 and was closed to the public in 1963 due to its fragility. “Copies” of the caves have been created to show visitors their beauty.
Robot the dog has made history , just like his young master and his 3 friends. All are unfortunately deceased . The last, Simon Coencas , passed away last February at the age of 93, reports France 3 Nouvelle-Aquitaine , whose report on this subject is here:
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