Arago Cave

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The interior of the cave of Arago

The Arago Cave ( La Caune de l'Arago ) is a karst cave in the southern foothills of the Corbières , a mountainous region in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France , near the town of Tautavel .

Several dozen fossils have been found in the cave since 1964 , the age of which was dated to around 450,000 years and which are attributed to the late Homo erectus (= Homo heidelbergensis ). One of these fossils, the skull of Arago XXI uncovered on July 22, 1971 , also became known as the Homme de Tautavel ( Man of Tautavel ). The cave, 20 km northwest of Perpignan , was known as a site for animal fossils as early as the 19th century, but systematic excavations did not begin until the early 1960s under the direction of the French paleoanthropologist Henry de Lumley .

Description of the cave

View from the level to the cave: The entrance is in front of the top of the shield

The cave lies around 100 meters above the Tautavel plain, on the edge of a steep slope that was cut into the limestone cliffs of the Gouleyrous gorge (a popular climbing formation) by the Verdouble river . Today the cave is about 40 meters long and 10 to 15 meters wide; originally it was significantly longer. The cave in the preserved - rear - area initially sloping downwards began to fill alternately with blown and seeped material around 700,000 years ago, a process that lasted until at least 35,000 years ago. These alternately sandy and clayey layers correlate with temperature changes (cold and warm periods) during the Pleistocene .

The layers that have emerged over time can be dated partly on the basis of fossils and partly also on the basis of rock material. H. relative and absolute . The ceiling of the cave partially collapsed 30,000 to 10,000 years ago; the original entrance and the filling of the front half collapsed into the valley, and today's collapse doline was created .

The excavations

The fossil Arago I
An iron door secures the entrance
Stone tools (left: rock crystal)
Vertical cords structure the excavation area
View from the upper edge of the cave onto the excavation area
Find situation

The Arago Cave is an internationally known research facility where excavations take place every year. In order to be able to describe the location of the fossil finds precisely, a measuring grid was drawn into the cave: The entire cave is divided into sections of one square meter each by vertical cords, which also enables the depth of the find layers to be precisely recorded. Each grid square is clearly named with a combination of letters and numbers (for example F7). Since the original limestone floor of the cave sloped downwards and the layers containing the fossils are therefore also sloping, the excavation work is extremely complicated, as several layers of different ages are sloping in many grid squares.

On the basis of pollen finds , the layers in which fossils of Homo heidelbergensis were discovered could be assigned at least approximately a certain vegetation:

“The pollen analysis identified a vegetation typical of a cold and dry climate in the approximately 550,000 year old layers, that of a grass steppe in the vicinity of the Caune de l'Arago. In the period from 500,000 to 450,000 years ago, a humid, mild climate and deciduous forest seem to have prevailed. Between 450,000 and 400,000 years before our time the area was probably quite open, but trees and bushes (...) have persisted. "

In the cave numerous bones of animals were also found that had been brought there by the inhabitants of the cave; numerous bones show traces of stone tools. The excavators often came across remains of red deer in layers 500,000 years old, which are close to today's red deer . The basic food of the hommes de Tautavel , who lived 450,000 years ago, was - similar to the findings from Vértesszőlős - probably meat from Equus mosbachensis , a sturdy horse that lived in open terrain. Tahre ( Hemitragus bonali ) and occasional steppe wisent ( Bos priscus ) were also hunted . Since the cave was also repeatedly inhabited by predators such as cave bears ( Ursus deningeri ; a complete 500,000 year old skeleton was excavated from him), wolves ( Canis etruscus ), wild dogs ( Cuon priscus ) and cave lions ( Panthera spelaea ), are only the bone finds clearly scratched by tools provide unequivocal evidence of the hommes de Tautavel's hunt . Fish waste was not found.

Also, according to the excavation findings, the members of the genus Homo who lived 450,000 years ago in the cave of Arago could not handle the fire: “No charred wood, no burned bones, no heated stone has been found in layers older than 400,000 years . "

According to the verifiable finds, the cave was used by individuals of the genus Homo about twenty times at times until the time of the late Neanderthals 35,000 years ago .

sightseeing

Official tours are occasionally offered during the summer excavation periods. However, an unofficial view of the cave is usually possible during the excavation period at least from today's entrance and from a small visitor platform behind it. The access to the cave goes in a north-westerly direction from the connecting road D9, about halfway between Tautavel and the neighboring municipality of Vingrau; it ends in a dirt parking lot. To the left of the water extraction system, a narrow, steep ascent leads up to the cave. In the area where the Verdouble emerges from the Gouleyrous Gorge, there is a picnic area that is very popular with residents of the neighboring villages in summer.

In the Musée de Préhistoire in Tautavel a replica of the cave of Arago can be visited. Copies of the fossils of Homo heidelbergensis as well as numerous stone tools and animal fossils found in the cave are also displayed there. In several dioramas worlds from the era of the hommes de Tautavel are shown. A camera that can be controlled remotely from the museum allows the work in the cave to be observed on several screens.

gallery

  • View from the Verdouble to the Gouleyrous Gorge ; the cave is at the top right

  • Original of a cave bear ( Ursus deningeri )

  • Reconstruction of a Homo erectus in the Musée de Préhistoire

  • View from the cave entrance into the Verdouble valley

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Musée de Tautavel. Tautavel 2000 (German edition of the fifty-page museum guide), p. 21.
  2. ↑ Musée de Tautavel. Tautavel 2000 (German edition of the fifty-page museum guide), p. 29.

Coordinates: 42 ° 50 ′ 22 "  N , 2 ° 45 ′ 18"  E