Alliat

Alliat
The entrance to the La Vache Cave The entrance to the La Vache Cave
Alliat
Location within Midi-Pyrénées region Alliat
Coordinates:
Country	France
Region	Languedoc-Roussillon-Midi-Pyrénées
Department	Ariège
Arrondissement	Foix
Canton	Tarascon-sur-Ariège
Intercommunality	Pays de Tarascon
Government
• Mayor (2008–2014)	Alain Brillu
Area1	3.46 km2 (1.34 sq mi)
Population (2008)2	64
• Density	18/km2 (48/sq mi)
INSEE/Postal code	09006 / 09400
Elevation	500–1,268 m (1,640–4,160 ft) (avg. 560 m or 1,840 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. 2 Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Alliat is a commune in the Ariège department and Midi-Pyrénées region in southwestern France.

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.

Historical population
Year	Pop.	±%
1806	96	—
1851	129	+34.4%
1856	97	−24.8%
1901	106	+9.3%
1921	81	−23.6%
1946	55	−32.1%
1962	67	+21.8%
1968	71	+6.0%
1975	68	−4.2%
1982	65	−4.4%
1990	55	−15.4%
1999	62	+12.7%
2008	64	+3.2%

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

See also

• Communes of the Ariège department

References

• INSEE