He started with some pretty dangerous explorations, where he dived naked into a
siphon, only with water tight packed candle and matches.
Later he writes in several books about this, and warns not to copy this
dangerous lapse.
Later he learned the techniques of caving from
E. A. Martel.
Martel, the founder of speleology wrote the foreword to his first book.
Unlike Martel, he was not a speleologist by profession.
He studied and worked as a notary public.
But he also studied prehistory at the Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle de
Toulouse.
This knowledge was very important for his later prehistoric discoveries.
| | |
| 1923 | Caverne de Montespan, Haute-Garonne, discovery of prehistoric sculptures. |
| 1926 | various caves in the Cirque de Gavarnie discovered, especially the Grotte Glacée Casteret. |
| 1927 | Rivière souterraine d'Izaut. |
| 1928 | Human remains, probably from Roman times, discovered in the Grotte de Girosp. |
| 1929 | Casteret discovered engravings in the Grotte d'Alquerdi. |
| 1930 | Discovery of the Grotte de Labastide. |
| 1932 | first exploration of the Grotte Cigalère. |
| 1933 | La Grotte Dite de Peyort. Gouffre Martel, l'Ariège. |
| 1934 | cave explorations at Morocco. |
| 1936 | Grotte de Houaliech. |
| 1937 | Grotte de Labouiche, together with Joseph Delteil. |
| 1938 | Gouffre Grotte d'Esparros. |
| 1941-1947 | exploration of the Henne Morte. |
| 1947 | depth record -446m in the Henne Morte. |
| 1950 | Casteret and his daughters Maude and Gilberte discovered five ice caves in the Cirque de Gavarnie. |
| 1952-1953 | Pierre Saint Martin. |
Casteret wrote more than 43 books, which made him very popular in the 1950s and
1960s.
Here are the probably most important ones.
Many of this books were translated into other languages.
Dix ans sous terre (Ten Years Under the Earth) is still available in
English, see the
Caving Literature
section.
Aven de Marzal.
)
