France 2008

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In June and July 2008 the Human Origins MA group, as well as some Ph.D. researchers, staff and invited guests undertook a trip to France.

Taking the ferry from Portsmouth to Caen before a first stop at the site of Pincevent.

The next stop was a fantastic afternoon at the hugely impressive museum at Nemours where we were treated to demonstrations on fire management in the Palaeolithic and some quite wonderful artefact collections.

After a marathon drive down to Les Eyzies de Tayac the team were thrust into the thick of an excavation conducted by Professor Randall White's (Centre for the Study of Human Origins, New York University) of abri Castanet, a site first excavated by Castanet and Peyrony in 1912-13. Here they found two Aurignacian levels in a sondage some 23m long by c.8.5m wide, and the material from layer A constitutes the type assemblage of Sonneville-Bordes 'Aurignacian I of Castanet type'. Professor White also revealed not only the amazing methodology employed (leaving no post-ex work outstanding at the end of the season) but also how they had managed to uncover art from the underside of the collapsed shelter roof.

The third day was closed by the unsurpassed hospitality of Dr Harold Dibble (Curator-in-Charge, European Archaeology Section, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology) and his team who started by revealing the inner workings of their site processing methodology, and an amazingly efficient and concise cataloguing system.

The Thursday was an archaeological marathon taking in seven sites around the Vézère valley:

First stop was Font de Gaume before moving onto Abri Cap Blanc and its incredible carvings. Abri Pataud (the first site in the Perigord excavated under modern standards) is a reference site for the Aurignacian, Gravettian and Solutrean its 14 stratigraphic layers contained within a 9 meter high section are almost unparalleled.

Attached to the site is a little museum which allowed more art to be viewed in its roof, as well as some very good reconstructions and the oldest artefact of the entire trip (a handaxe from the Vézère).

After lunch it was on to a whistle stop tour of Dr Harold Dibbles excavations at Roc de Marsal, the last site to have produced a Neanderthal burial. Here we were able to see the other end of Dr Dibbles operation, with some fascinating results (and interesting excavation), we were tantalised by their discovery of pits in alignment with the original grave site.

Following our all to brief trip away from Les Eyzies it was back to view the National Museum of Prehistory. Here we saw a temporary exhibition space which had drawn together 11 Neanderthals including Kebara 2 and its unique complete pelvis and hyoid bone.

After the National Museum of Prehistory we were off on a short trip to the UNESCO site of abri Cro-Magnon.

The last site of the day was le Moustier, whose upper shelter is the type site of the Mousterian, and whose lower shelter is awash with cultural change, Mousterian overlain by Chatelperronian before being capped by Aurignacian I. Unfortunately we had to view the site from behind the fence, hopefully in future years we will get to see the site more fully.

Friday consisted of guided tours around four of the most important sites in the region. First stop was Laugerie-Haute best known for its Gravettian and Magdalenian levels (and as an inspiration for Jean Auels Ninth Cave). Unfortunately we were not allowed photographs, but an interesting experience and well worth the visit.

Abri Poisson was the next port of call, a small cave which necessitated two groups so we could all get a proper look and appreciate the wonder of a salmon (in breeding season) carved onto the roof of the cave (and monochrome handprints only discovered in 1975). Whilst one group stared astonished in the Poisson shelter itself, the other group were free to take a peek at the incredible rock shelter above.

Following lunch, we were off to the incredible section at la Micoque, distinguished as not only the type site of the Micoquian but also the Tayacian (now defunct).

Our final site was the veritable Neanderthal graveyard at la Ferrassie, first explored in the 1890s the site has been re-examined on several occasions.

While at la Ferrassie we could not ressist the temptation to recreate the burials.

Following a whirl wind drive back up to Caen our French adventure came to an end. All who were fortunate enough to go will never forget the trip and would again like to thank Will and Mac for all their hard work in organising it, as well as all the guides and professionals who helped us, informed us and made us so welcome. Hears to next year!

A brief section on the trip has appeared in issue 2 (Jan 09) of the University of Southampton, School of Humanities, Postgraduate Research Newletter.