Hortus Cave served as a refuge for Neanderthals between 60,000 and 30,000 years ago. The excavation of its porch carried out on a large pit, revealed a stratigraphy of several meters. This excavation, carried out by a multidisciplinary team, provided information on the climate, the contemporary fauna and flora of the men who abandoned an abundant Mousterian industry on the site (points, blades, scrapers, etc.) as well as the bones of their fellow human beings ( around a hundred pieces, including numerous maxillae and mandibles).

After this first occupation, the stratigraphy did not reveal material from the Upper Paleolithic. Nevertheless, there are traces of regular occupation from the Neolithic (Chasséen and Ferrières) to the Chalcolithic and the Final Bronze Age.