Grotto du Lazaret

Grotto du Lazaret
	Excavation work in the Grotte du Lazaret
Location:	Alpes-Maritimes , France
Height :	100 m
Geographic ; location:	43 ° 41 '24 " N , 7 ° 17' 24" E Coordinates: 43 ° 41 '24 " N , 7 ° 17' 24" E
Geology:	dolomitic limestone
Type:	Rock cave
Discovery:	1826
Overall length:	35 m
Particularities:	Monument Historique (1963)
Website:	http://lazaret.unice.fr/grotte.html

The Grotte du Lazaret ( Alpes-Maritimes district , France ) belongs to the Middle Paleolithic and was used by Neanderthals as accommodation during hunting expeditions. Based on bone and stone tool finds, the settlement of the cave can be dated to a period of 200,000 to 130,000 years ago.
The Grotte du Lazaret was declared a Monument Historique on March 21, 1963 .

location

The cave is located east of Nice , on the western slopes of Mont Boron . It is 100 m above sea level in the calcareous dolomite rock of the Jura .
The cave has a length of 35 m, a width of 4 to 14 m and a height of 26 m. Not far from the cave was a Mediterranean forest with pistachios and olive trees, where hordes of wild animals grazed.

discovery

The cave was first mentioned in writing in 1826. The first excavations took place in 1842 by Alexis Naudot, inspector of mineral waters for the province. On December 18, 1842, the Academy of Sciences in Turin was presented with a dossier that briefly presented the results of his research. I.a. is mentioned there: "a strange fragment, apparently coming from a human skeleton, the lower end of a femur" near "remains of a large quadruped".

From 1851 to 1852 the brothers Frédéric Alexandre and Louis Jacques Le Fèvre carried out extensive excavations in the center of the cave and were able to collect numerous bones and tools. In the course of the 20th century, various methodical excavations were carried out at the site, especially in the 1950s by François Charles Ernest Octobon , from 1962 under his direction by Henry de Lumley .

meaning

The grotto is a key site for investigations into the transition from the Acheuléen to the Moustérien culture in the Middle Pleistocene . Furthermore, with its 8 m thick sediment layer in some places, it is an interesting site to be able to understand the climate changes in general and the climatic conditions of the region after the last Ice Age, which were colder and wetter than they are today.

Finds

The traces of fireplaces and bones show that the cave has been used repeatedly as a dwelling over the course of 60,000 years.

fauna

Extensive and varied finds have been made of large mammals, around 20,000 bones from herbivores and carnivores. The herbivores provide remains of the food of prehistoric humans. The dominant breed is the red deer, followed by the ibex, aurochs, bison and horse. Remains of rhinoceros, woolly rhinoceros and early elephants were found in smaller quantities .
The main carnivores are wolves, foxes, panthers and lynxes. During the course of human colonization, the animals repeatedly haunted the cave, leaving behind worn teeth and excrement. Sometimes the skins of the animals could be got hold of by humans.

In addition, 33 species of small mammals could be identified in the cave, including 15 species of rodents, insectivores and a few finds of bats.

Tools

In the Grotte du Lazaret, a large amount of stone materials have been found that testify to human use. Numerous hand axes, the characteristic tools of people of the Acheulean culture, were found in the lower layers of the earth . Along with this, other stone tools were found, in particular small tools in splinter form, for chopping, cutting, scraping or grinding, chopper and chopping tools , often with signs of use.
In the upper layers of the earth, the hand axes gradually disappear in favor of smaller splinter tools, among which the scraper dominates.

Coarse tools are mainly made of local pebble-shaped rocks, such as lime-rich marl . Finer tools were made from fine-grained good quality stone , such as flint , although the natural location of this type of stone as well as jasper , fine quartzite and rhyolite is further away. The shapes of the tools are both disc-shaped and rectangular. The Levallois technique is rarely found, but then implemented precisely. Complete stones show traces of use from striking tools. Small, flat stones have grooves on their surfaces, which indicate that they were used for fine-tuning tools.

Human remains

Six traces of human remains were found under excavation area UA26, dated around 160,000 years ago. Teeth were found by men, women and children, which proves that the cave was inhabited by entire families. Because of the shapes, people can be assigned to the European Homo erectus or the early Neanderthals . Part of a child's right frontal lobe shows vasoconstriction and a change in the meningeal artery, suggesting a fatal brain tumor. Two parts of the same femur were also found, with a fresh fracture indicating an intentional fracture, probably to access the marrow. A burnt upper arm bone of a woman was found in a layer of earth above, also with fresh traces of fractures and cuts to loosen muscles. These remains appear to be evidence of cannibalism.

Hunting behavior

Reconstruction of a hut made of animal skins in the Grotte du Lazaret. Theory made by H. de Lumley but challenged by other experts.

The Neanderthals of this area mainly hunted in the immediate vicinity of the cave. The game was first brought to the storage area before being cut up. Numerous grooves can be found on the bones, which were caused by flint tools and show that the knowledge of butchery was very well developed. The utilization of the carcass was maximal, it included the use of the meat, the pulp, the skin / skins and the tendons.

habitation

Signs of settlement are fire pits, flint processing facilities near the entrance and food remains along the side walls and in the back of the cave.

The excavations on an area of 90 m and approx. 1.60 m in depth have shown around twenty settlement areas lying one above the other. The oldest soil areas only indicate short periods of settlement of one or two seasons (autumn, winter). The younger floor areas show that humans have inhabited the cave for extended periods of time, sometimes over a year.

Publicity

Representation of the excavations inside the grotto

The Grotte du Lazaret has been open to the public free of charge for several years. A guided tour can be booked for a small fee. All information about the excavations is presented in French in detail, both inside the grotto and outside.

literature

Henry de Lumley: Le sol d'occupation acheuléen de l'unité archéostratigraphique UA 25 de la grotte du Lazaret (Nice, Alpes-Maritimes) . Edisud, 2004, ISBN 2-7449-0524-0 (French).
Henry de Lumley: La Grotte du Lazaret - Un campement de chasseurs, il ya 160,000 ans. Edisud, 2005, ISBN 2-7449-0563-1 (French).

Web links

https://grottelazaret.departement06.fr/grotte-du-lazaret-9179.html Official site of the grotto (French) accessed October 19, 2019
Map of the Grotte du Lazaret (PDF; 180 kB)
Page with photos and maps (French) accessed March 11, 2012
Short video of excavation work by schoolchildren and students (French) accessed March 11, 2012

Individual evidence

↑ La Grotte du Lazaret - Le Lazaret. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on July 13, 2012 ; accessed on October 18, 2019 (French).
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l Historique - Le Lazaret. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on February 13, 2013 ; accessed on October 18, 2019 (French).
↑ Data Publications - Le Lazaret. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on July 11, 2012 ; accessed on October 19, 2019 (French).
↑ Grande faune - Le Lazaret. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on July 11, 2012 ; accessed on October 19, 2019 (French).
↑ Microfaune - Le Lazaret. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on July 11, 2012 ; accessed on October 19, 2019 (French).
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d Industry - Le Lazaret. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on February 17, 2013 ; accessed on October 19, 2019 (French).
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d Anthropology - Le Lazaret. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on July 18, 2012 ; accessed on October 19, 2019 (French).
↑ ^a ^b ^c Paléthnographie - Le Lazaret. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on July 10, 2012 ; accessed on October 19, 2019 (French).

[1] La Grotte du Lazaret - Le Lazaret. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on July 13, 2012 ; accessed on October 18, 2019 (French).

[lazaret-history-2] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l Historique - Le Lazaret. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on February 13, 2013 ; accessed on October 18, 2019 (French).

[3] Data Publications - Le Lazaret. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on July 11, 2012 ; accessed on October 19, 2019 (French).

[4] Grande faune - Le Lazaret. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on July 11, 2012 ; accessed on October 19, 2019 (French).

[5] Microfaune - Le Lazaret. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on July 11, 2012 ; accessed on October 19, 2019 (French).

[lazaret-industrie-6] Industry - Le Lazaret. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on February 17, 2013 ; accessed on October 19, 2019 (French).

[lazaret-anthro-patho-7] Anthropology - Le Lazaret. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on July 18, 2012 ; accessed on October 19, 2019 (French).

[lazaret-palethno-8] Paléthnographie - Le Lazaret. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on July 10, 2012 ; accessed on October 19, 2019 (French).