Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword by Anta Montet-White
- Acknowledgments
- List of Authors and Contributors
- PART I INTRODUCTION, BACKGROUND, AND METHODOLOGY
- PART II SPECIALIZED ANALYSES
- 3 Sedimentology and Stratigraphy at Fontéchevade
- 4 Paleoclimate Delineation Using Magnetic Susceptibility Data
- 5 Electrical Resistivity Survey of Fontéchevade
- 6 The Fossil Human Remains
- 7 Radiometric Dates
- 8 Faunal Taphonomy
- 9 The Fauna from Henri-Martin's Excavation of Bed E
- 10 The Upper Paleolithic of Fontéchevade
- 11 Description of the Lithic Industries
- PART III ANALYSIS AND CONCLUSIONS
- References
- Index
10 - The Upper Paleolithic of Fontéchevade
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 May 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword by Anta Montet-White
- Acknowledgments
- List of Authors and Contributors
- PART I INTRODUCTION, BACKGROUND, AND METHODOLOGY
- PART II SPECIALIZED ANALYSES
- 3 Sedimentology and Stratigraphy at Fontéchevade
- 4 Paleoclimate Delineation Using Magnetic Susceptibility Data
- 5 Electrical Resistivity Survey of Fontéchevade
- 6 The Fossil Human Remains
- 7 Radiometric Dates
- 8 Faunal Taphonomy
- 9 The Fauna from Henri-Martin's Excavation of Bed E
- 10 The Upper Paleolithic of Fontéchevade
- 11 Description of the Lithic Industries
- PART III ANALYSIS AND CONCLUSIONS
- References
- Index
Summary
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
This chapter describes some of the Upper Paleolithic lithic material recovered from Fontéchevade during the early part of the twentieth century. Upper Paleolithic remains, in varying amounts and from both inside and outside the cave, had been noted by several excavators. The first to uncover these industries was L. Durousseau-Dugontier, between 1902 and 1910, but unfortunately his results were never published and his excavation notes have been lost (Henri-Martin 1957). In 1913 and 1914, M. Vallade undertook more systematic excavations, uncovering three beds of Upper Paleolithic. G. Henri-Martin used Vallade's unpublished results when she published her own excavations (1957). In 1921, M. and Mme. de Saint-Périer opened a trench at the opening of the cave, which yielded some Upper Paleolithic elements (1957). In 1933, P. David (1933) carried out several tests that also produced some Aurignacian artifacts. Although the most significant excavations were carried out starting in 1937 by Henri-Martin, the Upper Paleolithic had already been almost entirely removed, with only two remnants of the Aurignacian bed found (Henri-Martin 1957). In the course of the 1994–1998 excavations, no Upper Paleolithic was found in situ, though several indisputably Upper Paleolithic elements were uncovered in disturbed contexts.
DATA FROM THE OLD EXCAVATIONS
The first excavations by Durousseau-Dugontier produced pottery sherds as well as Typical Aurignacian and Châtelperronian lithics, although it is impossible to know if the excavator recognized any stratigraphy.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cave of FontéchevadeRecent Excavations and their Paleoanthropological Implications, pp. 154 - 169Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2008