Very little is known about Neanderthal cultures, particularly early ones. Other than lithic implements and exceptional bone tools, very few artefacts have been preserved. While those that do remain ...include red and black pigments and burial sites, these indications of modernity are extremely sparse and few have been precisely dated, thus greatly limiting our knowledge of these predecessors of modern humans. Here we report the dating of annular constructions made of broken stalagmites found deep in Bruniquel Cave in southwest France. The regular geometry of the stalagmite circles, the arrangement of broken stalagmites and several traces of fire demonstrate the anthropogenic origin of these constructions. Uranium-series dating of stalagmite regrowths on the structures and on burnt bone, combined with the dating of stalagmite tips in the structures, give a reliable and replicated age of 176.5 thousand years (±2.1 thousand years), making these edifices among the oldest known well-dated constructions made by humans. Their presence at 336 metres from the entrance of the cave indicates that humans from this period had already mastered the underground environment, which can be considered a major step in human modernity.
Artificial lighting was a crucial physical resource for expanding complex social and economic behavior in Paleolithic groups. Furthermore, the control of fire allowed the development of the first ...symbolic behavior in deep caves, around 176 ky BP. These activities would increase during the Upper Paleolithic, when lighting residues proliferated at these sites. The physical peculiarities of Paleolithic lighting resources are very poorly understood, although this is a key aspect for the study of human activity within caves and other dark contexts. In this work, we characterize the main Paleolithic lighting systems (e.g., wooden torches, portable fat lamps, and fireplaces) through empirical observations and experimental archeology in an endokarstic context. Furthermore, each lighting system's characteristic combustion residues were identified to achieve a better identification for the archaeological record. The experiments are based on an exhaustive review of archaeological information about this topic. Besides, we apply the estimated luminous data of a Paleolithic cave with Paleolithic art (Atxurra in northern Spain) in 3D through GIS technology to delve into the archeologic implications of illumination in Paleolithic underground activities.
Charcoal and micro-layers of soot trapped in speleothems from the inner galleries of Nerja Cave were analysed through an interdisciplinary study. The absolute dating of the prehistoric subterranean ...activity of the cave and the identification of different phases of visits to the deep parts are presented and discussed. The charcoal analysis includes anthracological analysis and SEM-EDX. The soot analysis includes optical microscopy, Raman spectroscopy and TEM-EDX, and the microcounting of soot microlayers. The
C dating of 53 charcoals identified 12 phases of prehistoric visits to the cave between 41,218 and 3299 cal. BP, putting back the origin of human occupation of this emblematic cave by 10,000 years. The interdisciplinary analysis of the soot microlayers allowed us to perform a high-precision zoom on the last three visitation phases identified by Bayesian analysis (8003-2998 cal. BP.), demonstrating that these phases contain at least 64 distinct incursions, with an average of one visit every 35 years for the Neolithic period. Spatial analysis showed that not all areas of the cave were used in the same periods, highlighting the repetition of visits to certain specific sectors of the Lower Galleries of the cave. Lastly, the anthracological data indicate a cross-cultural and unique use of Pinus tp. sylvestris-nigra wood for lighting activities over an extended period between the Gravettian and Upper Magdalenian.
Leye Cave (Dordogne, France) is a laboratory cave in the Vézère area, a region that contains some of the most famous rock art caves in the world such as Lascaux, Font-de-Gaume and Combarelles, and is ...listed as Human World Heritage by UNESCO. Leye Cave was selected because it is representative of painted caves, with respect to parameters such as its geological stage, the presence of water and carbon dioxide, the geological state of its walls, and the size of the cave. These wall states are studied to better understand the conditions of conservation of rock art caves without damaging them. The choice of an equivalent medium, i.e., a non-painted cave, was made to be able to conduct experiments or take measurements that would not have been possible in a rock art cave. The climatic conditions (temperature, hygrometry, etc.) monitored since 2011 are central to our understanding of the genesis and evolution of wall states. Leye Cave is sub-horizontal then descendant, forming a cold air trap. The phenomenon of condensation is thought to be important in the genesis of these wall states. Our article presents a model which describes the competition that exists between the conduction of the rock heating the air and the convection cooling the rock, in the area named the “Throne Chamber”, located in the deepest parts of the cave.
While affinities and interactions between archaic and modern human populations (i.e. 200,000-40,000 BP in Eurasia) at macro-evolutionary and continental scales have received considerable attention, ...there has been less emphasis on the population history of Europe between 40,000 and 26,000 BP (i.e. prior to the Last glacial Maximum, LGM) when only modern humans were present. Here we examine the immature mandible from Gargas (France, ca. 29,000 cal BP), which displays a modern morphology overall with some archaic features rarely seen, if at all, in European Pleistocene and Holocene modern humans. In particular, the Gargas child has a very broad mandible, large tooth crowns with extreme deciduous and permanent mesiodistal molar diameters and a deciduous first molar with a quantity of enamel never previously reported. Furthermore, this child exhibits a supernumerary permanent tooth in the incisor region, a rare congenital disorder so far described for only five other pre-LGM modern humans. Finally, our results also highlight previously undocumented spatial differences in the tooth crown dimensions of Upper Palaeolithic fossils.
Cussac Cave, discovered in 2000 in the Dordogne department of France, is one of the major decorated and sepulchral sites of the Gravettian period of the Upper Palaeolithic. It contains spectacular ...engravings, human remains—some of which were deposited in bear hibernation nests—and other well-preserved artefacts and traces of human and animal activity, such as human and cave bear footprints. The exceptional preservation of this cave is due to its recent discovery (followed by an extensive preservation program) and the apparent absence of human frequentation since the Gravettian period. As part of the multidisciplinary research program developed since 2008 (PCR Cussac, dir. J. Jaubert), this study aims to contribute to a better understanding of the factors—natural and/or cultural—that influenced the Gravettian people in their selection and general distribution of rock art panels in the cave. We investigate the nature of the rock support, location, surroundings, accessibility, and visibility of 31 panels. For this purpose, we developed an innovative methodology combining the data recorded in a dedicated database and on topographic documents with data processing using complex statistics (Factor Analysis for Mixed Data - FAMD). Through this work, we identified three groups of panels that reveal three ways of using the cave, two of which appear homogenous. Group 1 is characterized by small panels located in narrow passageways of the Palaeolithic path in the Downstream Branch of the cave. These panels share a strong potential for visual relationships whereas it is impossible for more than four people to see a given panel at the same time. In contrast, Group 3, also mainly located in the Downstream Branch, is composed of large panels with numerous graphic entities. These panels are always located in wide corridors and distant from the natural path, and their field of visibility is thus large enough to accommodate a small group of individuals. They also share visual relationships with other panels. Finally, Group 2 contains fewer intrinsic criteria, though all the panels are situated between the beginning of the Downstream Branch and the Upstream Branch, and they are visually isolated from each other. This study yields evidence of a strong interaction between geological and cultural factors in the selection of the rock art panels in Cussac Cave. The Gravettian people that frequented Cussac Cave linked their cultural goals to what the cave had to offer in terms of geology, geomorphology and available space. They adapted to—and even optimized—both the opportunities and constraints of the cave, thus demonstrating a strong interaction between geological and cultural parameters.
Accompagner articule de façon complexe différentes dimensions.
« Marcher aux côtés de », « cheminer de conserve » suppose de faire le deuil d’une programmation rigide pour laisser place à ...l’improvisation : on ne se positionnera ni dans la formation préconstruite, ni dans le contrôle ; on écoutera, observera, partagera son analyse, on provoquera le questionnement, proposera des apports, on endossera la posture « d’ami critique », tout cela au fil des nécessités posées par l'avancement d’un projet.
In this study, multi-block analysis was applied for the first time to LIBS spectra provided by a portable LIBS system (IVEA Solution, France) equipped with three compact Czerny-Turner spectrometers ...covering the spectral ranges 200–397nm, 398–571nm and 572–1000nm. 41 geological samples taken from a laboratory-cave situated in the “Vézère valley”, an area rich with prehistoric sites and decorated caves listed as a UNESCO world heritage in the south west of France, were analyzed. They were composed of limestone and clay considered as underlying supports and of two types of alterations referred as moonmilk and coralloid.
Common Components and Specific Weights Analysis (CCSWA) allowed sorting moonmilk and coralloid samples. The loadings revealed higher amounts of magnesium, silicon, aluminum and strontium in coralloids and the saliences emphasized that among the three spectrometers installed in the LIBS instrument used in this work; that covering the range 572–1000nm was less contributive. This new approach for processing LIBS data not only provides good results for sorting geological materials but also clearly reveals which spectral range contains most of the information. This specific advantage of multi-block analysis could lead for some applications to simplify the design and to reduce the size of LIBS instruments.
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•A new approach for processing LIBS data by using multi-block analysis.•Characterization of two types of white alteration threatening many prehistoric caves.•Methodology to determine the most convenient LIBS instrument for a given application.
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