« Collective memory still speaks today of subterranean passages dug by the Numidians. It is not without reason that the supporters of the Kahina and the maquisards of November First used the same caves to go from the Aurès to Tunisia » , Kateb Yacine writes in the preface to Yamina Mechakra’s La Grotte éclatée. In this novel published in 1979, the war for Algeria’s independence plays itself out in the « deeps » , but what does cave translate when it bursts and is scattered through the novel by Yamina Mechakra’s both poetic and deeply rooted style ? This article seeks to question the experiences that occur in the « cave » in a context where landmarks seem invisible, so as to explore the traces of collective memory that these places can bring to light.