Arcy-sur-Cure caves

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“Salle de la Boucherie” of the Arcy-sur-Cure caves

The caves of Arcy-sur-Cure are located in the south of the Paris basin between Auxerre and Avallon , near the municipality of the same name on the banks of the Cure river in the Yonne department . Between 1947 and 1963, stone tools, artifacts and early human fossils , as well as cave paintings from the Stone Age, were discovered in the branched cave system, which consists of several separately accessible grottos .

Location of the caves of Arcy-sur-Cure with the "Grande Grotte" and the "Grotte du Renne"

Science focuses on one of the numerous grottoes, the "Grotte du Renne". There are signs of a meeting of Neanderthals and modern humans due to processed objects and human remains in the same find locations . The caves have been used by humans for around 200,000 years (cultural stage of the Young Acheuléen and the Moustérien ), initially by the Neanderthals, and most recently by Cro-Magnon people (of the Homo sapiens type from the east about 40,000 years ago) ). "Wall paintings" provide an insight into the culture of these people, which - along with the finds in the Chauvet Grotto in the Ardeche department - are among the oldest cave art ever discovered in Europe.

The caves have been listed by the French Ministry of Culture as monument historique ('historical monument') since 1992 .

Châtelperronia

The settlement of the caves of Arcy-sur-Cure ranges from the Jung- Acheuléen to the Moustérien (the cultural stage of the "classical" Neanderthals) to the Châtelperronien , which begins around 40,000 before today and is replaced by the Aurignacien (modern man). The Châtelperronien is a "transitional stage" with special tool processing, which was mainly used in France and northern Spain . Points or knives with a curved, blunt back are characteristic. The cultural name was introduced in 1906 by Henri Breuil , after the site of the Grotte des Fées near Châtelperron . Whether the found objects and artifacts from the Châtelperronien, especially from the Grotte du Renne (Cave of the Reindeer), are still legacies of the late Neanderthals or whether these can be assigned to the Cro-Magnon people (or both) has been in for years discussed in the professional world. Remains of hominids from Châtelperronien have only been found in two sites in a secured archaeological context: in the "Grotte du Renne" of Arcy-sur-Cure and in Saint-Césaire , in the south-east of France.

Cave system

Drawing of a mammoth in the caves of Arcy-sur-Cure

The cave system of Arcy-sur-Cure consists of a structure of caves that the small river Cure dug into a reef limestone massif at the end of the Mesozoic Era. The caves, which are lined up on the north bank over a distance of around two kilometers, have been explored step by step for around 150 years.

Redrawing of tool tips of the Châtelperronien culture stage

Only the largest of the caves, the "Grand Grotte" at the end of an access road by the visitor center, is open to tourism. It has always been known to the residents of the Cure, as the wide portal is immediately apparent to anyone who passes by. It is particularly significant because of its prehistoric wall paintings. Because it is so easily accessible and the way through the cave is practically no difficulty, it has always been walked on and also plundered in earlier years. Before the Stone Age murals and fossils were discovered, the grottoes were primarily known for their bizarre stalactite figures and winding cave passages. For the construction of the “Grotte du Trianon” in Paris, the stalactites were taken out of the cave in large quantities and brought to Versailles .

The prehistoric wall paintings of the Grand Grotto were only discovered around 1990, when attempts were made to use chemicals to protect the rock from weathering and to remove scribbles. Unfortunately, many of the murals hidden under the patina were also damaged or destroyed in the cleaning process. Numerous red paintings are distributed over separate fields on which one can distinguish more than one hundred and forty drawing units, including around sixty animal pictures, especially of mammoths . Further drawings show species that are less common in other caves with wall paintings, but which can also be found in the cave of Chauvet in the Ardèche (bear, rhinoceros, big cat, bird). The representations are supplemented by negative impressions of eight hands and various symbols (dots, serpentine lines, hooks, trapezoidal symbols). The anthropogenic remains found under the prehistoric soil , which were hidden under 30 centimeters of deposits, are related to the painting activities (dyes, mortars) and lighting (hearth fire, lamps). The C14 dates obtained from coal residues are between 28,000 and 33,000 years ago.

The entrances to most of the grottos can be reached by walking along the riverbank, although they are closed and the caves are closed: the Grotte des Fées with a length of 2380 m, the Grotte de Barbe Bleue, the Grottes de l'Hyène and du Cheval and the Grotte du Renne, where the legacies of Neanderthals and modern humans were discovered. Of the following, only the Grand Grotto is open to the public, the others are open to scientific research:

  • Grande Grotte,
  • Abri du Lagopède
  • Grotto du Cheval
  • Grotte de l'Hyène
  • Grotto du Trilobite
  • Grotto des Ours
  • Grotto you run
  • Grotto you bison
  • Grotto du Loup
  • Grotto du Lion
  • Grotto des Fées
  • Grotto des Deux Cours
  • Le Couloir grotto
  • Grotto des Goulettes

Grotto you run

32 millimeter earrings made by humans from bone by Arcy-sur-Cure

The "Grotte du Renne" (reindeer cave), first examined by André Leroi-Gourhan between 1949 and 1963 , is in the focus of science insofar as there are indications of the interaction between Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans. Archaeological artifacts and artificially worked objects in this cave were discovered in locations that also contained the remains of Neanderthals; this was used in particular by Jean-Jacques Hublin as a sign of “modern behavior” of the Neanderthals or for encounters between the two types of people. This interpretation was initially controversial, but in 2016 it was supported by preserved proteins from several dozen bones found in the cave.

The grotto is divided into 15 archaeological layers or levels with a thickness of four meters, as layers I to XV. Layers V and VI contain artifacts of the Gravettian , level VII is Proto- Aurignacian . VIII, IX and X contain chatelperron tools, the latter level also symbolic ornaments: owls, perforated animal teeth, ivory parts, bone processing interpreted as ear pendants, grooved teeth as well as hominid artefacts, in particular dental finds from Neanderthals. The fauna finds contain the remains of reindeer and horses, some of whose bones were reworked into tools. Mammoth bones and tusks have also been discovered, possibly (but unconfirmed) as building materials for shelters built into the cave.

Analyzes in 2012

Despite the fossil finds from Arcy-sur-Cure, the question remained whether Neanderthals were able to manufacture such sophisticated objects (or whether they acquired these or the manufacturing technology from Homo Sapiens humans). In 2012, the results of analyzes were published that had been carried out under the direction of Jean-Jacques Hublin from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig. The international team of researchers had examined easily identifiable fossil remains of Neanderthals from the Grotte du Renne. In the CP layers of the grotto, quite sophisticated tools and bone jewelry were found. The age of the objects was determined with the aid of an accelerator mass spectrometer. The C14 data indicated that Neanderthals may have made the sophisticated tools and body jewelry from the CP culture. Since this would only have been possible after modern humans arrived in the region around 40,000 years ago, the researchers suspect that a cultural exchange took place between these two groups of people.

  • The head of the study, Jean-Jacques Hublin from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, said: “This is partly due to the fact that the Châtelperronien exhibits a wide range of behavioral characteristics that are reminiscent of subsequent industries of the Upper Paleolithic. These later industries were created by modern humans ”.

Web links

Commons : Grottes d'Arcy-sur-Cure  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Gerhard Bosinski - (editor: Elmar-Björn Krause) - in: Die Neandertaler - Feuer im Eis - 250,000 years / jewelery , Edition Archaea Gelsenkirchen / Schwelm, 1999, ISBN 3-929439-76-X , page 104
  2. ↑ a b c d Modern humans inspired the Neanderthals cultural website of the Max Planck Society, October 29, 2012.
  3. ↑ Tim Appenzeller: The old masters . In Spektrum der Wissenschaft “Compact”, edition of June 11, 2013, page 20f. - u. a. Translations from the original article "Old Masters" in Nature magazine 497/2013 pages 302–304
  4. ^ Official website of the Grottes d'Arcy-sur-Cure museum. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on February 25, 2015 ; Retrieved June 6, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.grottes-arcy.net
  5. ^ A. Leroi-Gourhan: Les fouilles d'Arcy-sur-Cure (Yonne). In: Gallia Préhistoire 4, 1961, pp. 3-16
  6. ^ F. Lévêque, B. Vandermeersch: Découverte de restes humains dans le niveau Castelperronien à Saint-Césaire (Charente-Maritime). In: Comptes rendus de l'Académie des sciences 291, 1980, pp. 187-189
  7. ↑ Website Coeurdelyonne representations Arcy-sur-Cure. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on June 21, 2015 ; Retrieved June 6, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.coeurdelyonne.com
  8. ^ Official website of the Grottes d'Arcy-sur-Cure museum. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on February 25, 2015 ; Retrieved June 6, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.grottes-arcy.net
  9. ↑ Website Coeurdelyonne representations Arcy-sur-Cure. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on June 21, 2015 ; Retrieved June 6, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.coeurdelyonne.com
  10. ↑ Chris Stringer , Clive Gamble: In Search of the Neanderthals: Solving the Puzzle of Human Origins Thames and Hudson, London, 1993 ISBN 978-0500278079
  11. ^ Jean-Jacques Hublin , F. Spoor, M. Braun, F. Zonneveld, S. Condemi: A Late Neanderthal Associated with Upper Palaeolithic Artefacts. In: Nature. Volume 381, 1996, pp. 224-226 doi : 10.1038 / 381224a0
  12. ^ Jean-Jacques Hublin et al .: Radiocarbon dates from the Grotte du Renne and Saint-Césaire support a Neandertal origin for the Châtelperronian. In: PNAS . Volume 109, No. 46, 2012, pp. 18743–18748, doi: 10.1073 / pnas.1212924109 , full text (PDF)
  13. ^ François Caron, d'Errico, F., Del Moral, P., Santos, F., Zilhão, J .: The Reality of Neandertal Symbolic Behavior at the Grotte du Renne, Arcy-sur-Cure, France . In: PLOS One . 6, No. 6, 2011, p. E21545. doi : 10.1371 / journal.pone.0021545 . Retrieved April 4, 2014.
  14. ^ Higham T , Jacobi R , Julien M, David F, Basell L, Wood R, Davies W, Ramsey CB.C (2010). Chronology of the Grotte du Renne (France) and implications for the context of ornaments and human remains within the Chatelperronian. Proc Natl Acad Sci US A. doi : 10.1073 / pnas.1007963107 PMID 20956292
  15. ↑ Mellars P. (2010). Neanderthal symbolism and ornament manufacture: The bursting of a bubble? Proc Natl Acad Sci US A. doi : 10.1073 / pnas.1014588107
  16. ↑ Frido Welker, Mateja Hajdinjak, Sahra Talamo, [...] and Jean-Jacques Hublin: Palaeoproteomic evidence identifies archaic hominins associated with the Châtelperronian at the Grotte du Renne. In: PNAS. Volume 113, No. 40, 2016, pp. 11162–11167, doi: 10.1073 / pnas.1605834113
  17. ^ Ralf W. Schmitz and Jürgen Thissen in: Neandertal - the story goes on / Neandertaler jewelry , Spectrum Academic Publishing House, Heidelberg Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-8274-1345-1 , pages 166–167
  18. ↑ Ralf W. Schmitz and Jürgen Thissen in: Neandertal - the story goes on / circular structures as hut floor plans , Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, Heidelberg Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-8274-1345-1 , page 132
  19. ↑ Katerina Harvati in: GEOkompakt. No. 41. Interview: The Neanderthal's own mental abilities , 2014, ISBN 978-3-652-00351-3 , page 69f
  20. ^ Jean-Jacques Hublin et al .: New Radiocarbon Dates from the Grotte du Renne and Saint Césaire support a Neanderthal Origin for the Châtelperronian. In: PNAS, October 29, 2012. Executive summary

Coordinates: 47 ° 35 ′ 29.4 "  N , 3 ° 45 ′ 59.8"  E