La Madeleine (Abri)
Coordinates: 44 ° 58 ′ 6 ″ N , 1 ° 1 ′ 51 ″ E
The Abri La Madeleine , located in the French commune of Tursac in the Dordogne department , is an important site from the Upper Paleolithic . It forms the type locality for the cultural epoch of Magdalenian , which was named after it.
Geography, geology and description of the demolition
The south-facing Abri is located on the right side of the Vézère valley, downstream from Tursac . It lies beneath a 45-meter-high rock wall made of flat limestone from the Coniacium . About 200 m upstream and further up in the rock of La Madeleine there is a cave settlement from the 8th century and above it the castle Petit Marzac . Immediately upstream, the Vézère follows a large meander loop with a radius of around 500 meters and then flows past at a short distance from the rock face ( impact slope ). The Abri was washed away by the river by washing it down.
The Abri La Madeleine is undoubtedly one of the greatest prehistoric sites in the Périgord . So far, around 50 meters in length and 10 to 15 meters in width have been examined, but overall it is likely to cover more than one hectare in area. The Abri is about 5 meters above today's river level. A little further downstream is the Abri Villepin , another site of the Upper Paleolithic. The presence of a nearby ford through the Vézère is significant for the former settlement area .
Research history
The Abri was discovered in 1863 by Édouard Lartet and Henry Christy during their first archaeological exploration in the Périgord. They then carried out their first excavations by 1865. In 1864 they came across an ivory fragment that came from a mammoth's tusk and was embellished with a finely worked engraving of the same animal. Further excavation work followed around 1865 by E. Massénat and P. Girod. The recovered stone artefacts and bone finds moved Gabriel de Mortillet in 1872 to name the cultural epoch of the late Upper Palaeolithic as Magdalenian after the Abri .
In 1901 excavations were carried out by Laville and others by F. Rivière. Between 1910 and 1913 Dénis Peyrony researched the Abri very thoroughly on behalf of the state, then again in 1926, where he discovered the grave of a child in the lowest position.
More recent investigations were carried out by JM Bouvier (from 1968, 1977 and 1986) and by F. Delpech (1983). Bouvier specified the stratigraphic sequence and also made several C14 dates .
stratigraphy
Already in his study between 1910 and 1913, Peyrony was able to divide the deposits in the Abri into three separate archaeological levels. These were then given the names Magdalenian IV, Magdalenian V and Magdalenian VI from Henri Breuil . The older stages Magdalenian I, II and III, however, are defined by the deposits in the Abri Placard in the Charente .
This somewhat rough subdivision was later refined, there are now 9 levels (B to J) or 18 levels (from young to old):
- Magdalenian VI: its thickness varies between 0.50 and 1.00 meters, does not contain any flood zones. Layers B to F, levels 1 to 7.
- Magdalenian V: It leads flood situations. Layers F to I, levels 8 to 13.
- Magdalenian IV: Its thickness varies between 0.25 and 1.00 meters, with flood conditions. Layer J, levels 14 to 18.
Finds
In addition to the already mentioned mammoth fragment and the child's find, hundreds of works of art come from the Abri of La Madeleine, the majority of which are now scattered all over the world. Including such famous art objects as spear throwers (with a bison head or with a hyena ), a limestone plate found by Peyrony with an exquisitely crafted reindeer head , a pierced ritual staff, pierced teeth for jewelry chains, the engraving of a masked male being and many others.
The many bone finds are striking, mainly from reindeer and wild horses , but also ibex , chamois , ox , bison and deer . The people of the time therefore mainly fed on reindeer (up to 87% of the bone finds), followed by wild horses (up to 36%). However, the bone finds do not give a reliable image of the fauna of that time, as the Upper Paleolithic hunters hunted selectively and for seasonal reasons.
It can be concluded that the Abri was a kind of central slaughterhouse, where the booty shot in the vicinity was processed.
Age
Absolute dating using the C 14 method, carried out by Bouvier and Delpech, gave the following ages:
- Beginning of Magdalenian VI (shift F): 12,640 ± 260 years BP
- End of Magdalenian V (shift G): 12750 ± 240 years BP
- Beginning of Magdalenian V (Layer I): 13070 ± 190 years BP
- End of Magdalenian IV (shift J): 13440 ± 300 years BP
The Abri La Madeleine was therefore inhabited in the period 13,500 to 12,500 years BP.
Stone artefacts from the Gravettian and the Solutréen suggest that the demolition had been housed much earlier.
There are also very sporadic traces from the Azilia .
UNESCO world heritage
The Abri La Madeleine has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979, along with other important sites in the Vézère Valley .
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ Laville, H., Rigaud, J.-Ph. & Sackett, J .: Rock shelters of the Périgord . Geological stratigraphy and archaeological succession . Academic Press, New York 1980, pp. 371 .
- ^ Delpech, F .: Les faunes du Magdalénien Supérieur dans le Sud-Ouest de la France . CNRS, Paris 1983, p. 453 .
- ↑ Boyle, KV: La Madeleine (Tursac, Dordogne): une étude paléoéconomique du Paléolithique Supérieur . In: Paléo, N ° 6 . 1994, p. 55-77 .
