I’m not the only one who’s been enchanted by this cave. Archaeologists, speleologists and scientists have ventured inside since the 19th century.
The writer and historian Prosper Mérimée was the first to provide a written description of the Lezea cave, and the father of French speleology Edouard-Alfred Martel was the first to document its topography.
In 1912, on this very spot, Emmanuel Passemard carried out the first excavations where implements were found, evidence of human presence some thirty thousand years ago!
The great Basque anthropologist José Miguel de Barandiaran who dedicated his life to studying the identity of the Basque people, conducted research here as well. All of these studies revealed the great prehistoric richness of the Caves of Sare.
