Perrat's grotto
| Perrat's grotto
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 Agris helmet |
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| Location: | Charente department , France | |
| Height : | 83 m | |
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Geographical location: |
45 ° 47 '53 " N , 0 ° 21' 58" E | |
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| Geology: | Jurassic Limestone | |
| Type: | Karst cave | |
| Discovery: | 1981 | |
| Overall length: | 250 m | |
The Perrats grotto is a prehistoric site in southwest France , 23 kilometers northeast of Angoulême . The cave is located in the municipality of Agris in the Charente department ( Nouvelle-Aquitaine region ). Agris' helmet was discovered in it in 1981 .
geography
The entrance to the cave, at 83 meters above sea level, is in the north-eastern, right-hand slope of the Bellone , a right tributary of the Tardoire , which is temporarily dry . Not far further north is the Les Cosses district on the southwest edge of the Forêt de Quatre Vaux forest , which culminates at 137 meters. It is just under 2.5 kilometers to the Pont d'Agris in the southwest . Access to the cave is via the D 175 from Pont d'Agris towards Quatre Vaux .
description
The cave has a main hall from which a slightly branched network of corridors with a total length of about 300 meters extends. The main hall extends east-west and is 27 meters long. Its western end was narrowed more and more from the Middle Ages by clay sediments and finally completely clogged. The main hall originally opened to the outside world via a portal porch that was offset to the south-east. Century collapsed. Until 2002 this entrance was covered by a heap of rubble. The main hall once had a third entrance via a 14 meter long corridor ( Galerie R. Ballout ), which has been completely buried since the Middle Bronze Age at the latest .
Another smaller hall can be reached from the main hall in an easterly direction via a small corridor. This side hall is the starting point for the network of corridors leading into the deeper interior. This network of ducts branches out into two larger branches running in a north-westerly direction. The side hall should also once have had two or three separate entrances east of the main portal. They, too, are now completely blocked by colluvial sediments from the adjacent plateau.
geology
The Perrats grotto was formed in the central Jurassic limestone sediments of the northern Aquitaine basin , more precisely in the limestone of the Callovian . The flat limestones are fine-grained to sublithographic, gray to creamy white in color, slightly clayey, bioturbate and quite rich in fossils ( cephalopods and lamellar branches ). Some of them lead to black chert tubers. Geologically, the cave belongs to the Karst of La Rochefoucauld .
history
The Perrats cave was discovered on May 1st, 1981 by speleologists from the La Rochefoucauld Speleological Association ( Association de Recherches Spéléologiques de La Rochefoucauld ). On May 9 and 10, 1981, two connected front parts of Agris' helmet were recovered from the ejecta of a roof burrow in the central area of the cave. A rescue excavation was organized that same year. Between 1982 and 1994 the interior of the cave was subjected to an intensive, planned research excavation.
After an almost eight-year break, the planned excavations were resumed in 2002 and should last until 2008. But now they concentrated on the entrance area of the cave.
A stone wall from the Latène period with a ditch in front of it was discovered, which was obviously intended to prevent access to the cave. It is believed that the cave probably served as a sanctuary until the early Roman Empire .
Finds
The cave had already been used from the Mesolithic , the Bronze Age , the Iron Age , the Gallo-Roman era and until the Classical Middle Ages . In the 13th or 14th century, the entrance collapsed so that access to the cave was closed. The stratigraphy of the cave - one of the most important post-Paleolithic stratigraphies in western France - documents more than 8,000 years of use.
Mesolithic
Among the bones discovered in the cave, at least eight skeletons of people living during the Mesolithic could be identified at the entrance portal, including five adults and three children. All signs point to cannibalism . The bones were deliberately cracked open and the bone marrow removed. A meticulous examination of the bones clearly showed that their condition was not due to any secondary cause - such as exposure to predators, indentation from sediment load, or the eventual fall of boulders. Long bones had been broken in several places, but shorter ones were not spared either. The skulls were smashed in to gain access to their contents. For the archaeologist Bruno Boulestin this is clearly a targeted slaughter, the only target of which was the bone marrow and brain mass.
Neolithic
In several places in the main hall and in the gallery R. Balloux were fireplaces and discovered flushed from the fire, mixed with charcoal material. Radiocarbon dating showed this to be the Middle Neolithic . Two phases of use can be distinguished - one in the first half of the 5th millennium BC. And the second in the last third of the same millennium. Furthermore, human remains were found on the portal - unfortunately without artifacts - which were identified by means of C-14 on the second half of the 4th millennium BC. Could be dated.
In 2004, completely unexpectedly, a multiple grave was uncovered in the entrance area, dating back to 4000 BC. Was dated. It completes the picture of the Neolithic obtained so far and also provides important information on the funeral rites in central western France during the Middle Neolithic.
Bronze age
Early bronze age
In the early Bronze Age the cave was used exclusively as a collective, rather complexly organized burial site . The distribution of the bone remnants was not homogeneous and was also accompanied by animal bones and other material. Nevertheless, a selective distribution can be seen - for example, skulls, thighs and humerus bones were partly deposited in smaller pits in the main hall towards the entrance. Furthermore, several ritual cuts can be seen on the bones.
Middle Bronze Age
In the Middle Bronze Age , two different ways of using the cave can be identified. Their burial function continued in the older central bronze in the eastern side room. Unfortunately, large rearrangements were carried out here later.
The main hall was used as a living area, whereby four phases can be recognized. The older phase corresponds to Reinecke's period B (medium bronze) and is characterized by numerous installations. So floors, formwork, trenches and piles were drawn in, and several important storage vases were also found. Harnesses made from deer antlers also originate from this phase. The following two phases are not very informative - apart from the crates at the entrance portal. The most recent phase is characterized by metallurgical activities . In the entrance area, a shell-shaped casting mold and several pieces of melt made of raw bronze, which had obviously been broken to be melted down, were found.
Ceramic finds and amber beads point to the Duffaits culture .
Late Bronze Age
The Late Bronze Age IIa or Ha B1 only appears in the main hall. Their archaeological layer is quite thin and poor in finds - which suggests sporadic use. The late bronze IIb or Ha B2 / 3, on the other hand, delivered important ceramics - including two bowls engraved with characters - as well as a large number of metal objects.
La Tène time
Spring La Tène
The gilded Celtic helmet by Agris, which was found in the cave, comes from Frühatène B2 / C1. In their work from 2010, Gomez de Soto and Stephane Verger came to the conclusion, based on the overall ornamentation, that the helmet was used during the second quarter or in the middle of the 4th century BC, i.e. shortly before 350 BC. Was made. Also noteworthy are ceramic finds, some painted, a bronze brooch of the Dux type, the remains of two iron brooches and half a bronze ring that served as a sword scabbard holder.
In the entrance area, a horizontal platform reaching 4 meters deep was created, whereby the previous traces of settlement from the Bronze Age along with the periglacial deposits were removed. A natural stone wall filled with clay and straw was raised in front of this platform, completely blocking the entrance except for a centrally located, removable door lock. Before the wall was also in the 3rd century BC. A trench up to 1.30 meters deep was dug, which was later buried again.
Due to the magnificent helmet find and the structural changes, it is assumed that the Perrat grotto fulfilled a religious function during the springtime of La Tène.
Middle Latène
This religious function of the cave continued in Mittellatène C2, but under different conditions. Ceramics and iron tools were found as artifacts. The cave was then used until the late La Tène (around 150 to 100 BC).
Gallo-Roman era
The Perrat grotto was also visited during the Gallo-Roman era , but the rarity of finds suggests that it was only used sporadically.
middle Ages
The cave was housed and used several times during the Middle Ages . The oldest phase left a few artifacts from the late Merovingian period (around 750 AD). Characteristic are very elaborately crafted pieces of jewelry, some luxury items and a lot of glass remains .
During the Carolingian period and during the 10th and 11th centuries, the cave was completely redesigned. The entrance was now narrowed by stone walls to a narrow corridor, at the end of which there was probably a lockable door. In front of this structure, a wooden palisade was later built, which was also provided with an entrance door. Their base was secured by stones. The numerous objects left behind suggest the presence of armed knights who may have controlled the surrounding forest from here. Between the 13th century and the beginning of modern times, the entrance portal finally collapsed and closed the cave.
See also
literature
- B. Boulestin: Approche taphonomique des restes humains. Le cas des Mésolithiques de la grotte des Perrats et leproblemème du cannibalisme en Préhistoire récente européenne . In: British Archaeological Reports International Series . tape 776 . Archaeopress, Oxford 1999.
- J. Gomez: Nouvelles découvertes exceptionnelles de la Tène ancienne dans la grotte d'Agris, Charente . In: Bulletin de la Société Préhistorique Française . tape 80 (7) , 1983, pp. 194-197 .
- José Gomez de Soto, Pierre-Yves Milcent and others: La France du Center aux Pyrénées (Aquitaine, Center, Limousin, Midi-Pyrénées, Poitou-Charentes): Cultes et sanctuaires en France à l'âge du Fer . In: Gallia . vol. 3, t. 60, no 1, 2003, p. 107-138 , doi : 10.3406 / galia.2003.3145 .
- M. Kihm: Une occupation médiévale en grotte: les Perrats à Agris. Étude de la vaisselle . In: Mémoire de maîtrise, faculté des sciences humaines et arts . Université de Poitiers, 2002.
- S. Manem: Étude typochronologique de la céramique de transfert du Bronze moyen de la grotte des Perrats à Agris (Charente). Contribution à l'étude de la culture des Duffaits. In: Mémoire de maîtrise, faculté des sciences humaines et arts . Université de Poitiers, 2001.
Individual evidence
- ^ Association de Recherches Spéléologiques de La Rochefoucauld: Le casque d'or gaulois d'Agris. Un sanctuaire de l'Age du Fer en Charente. In: Spelunca . n ° 5, 1982, p. 33-34 .
- ^ J. Gomez: Nouvelles découvertes exceptionnelles de la Tène ancienne dans la grotte d'Agris, Charente . In: Bulletin de la Société Préhistorique Française . tape 80 (7) , 1983, pp. 194-197 .
- ↑ Jean Guilaine and Jean Zammit: Le sentier de la guerre, visages de la violence préhistorique . Seuil, Paris 2000, ISBN 2-02-040911-9 , pp. 372 .
- ^ José Gomez De Soto and Stephane Verger: Le casque d'Agris, chef-d'oeuvre de l'art celtique occidental . In: L'Archéologue . 2010.