La Quina

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La Quina is a Palaeolithic site near Gardes-le-Pontaroux in the Charente department in southwest France . In addition to tools from the Moustérien , Châtelperronien and Aurignacien , remains of more than 20 Neanderthals were found.

Geography and geology

The downstream site in winter

The La Quina site, named after the rural property of the same name (the more precise name is Les-Champs-de-la-Pierre-Ronde ), is located in the Voultron valley , a right tributary of the Lizonne , about 2 kilometers southwest of Le Pontaroux . The river has cut into the relatively resistant Rudist limestone of the Angoulême Formation ( Lower Angoumien ). On the right side of the valley it is by a series of rock shelters lined, the left side of the valley is accompanied by a distance of more than 700 meters of rock projections reduced broken partially. The foot of the wall is largely masked by debris . The actual prehistoric site is located right next to the municipal road from Le Pontaroux to Blanzaguet on the left side of the valley and consists of two different parts, one upstream and one a little further downstream. The sites are fenced and not accessible to the public, but they are now in a deplorable condition.

history

The two fenced-off sites are in the thicket immediately to the right of the road from Blanzaguet to Pontaroux

The site has been known since 1872. In 1891 the road was built. The doctor Léon Henri-Martin bought the property in 1905 and then carried out excavations between 1906 and 1936. His work was continued by his daughter Germaine between 1953 and 1965. More recent excavations have been carried out in La Quina by A. Jelinek, A. Debénath and H. Dibble from 1985 onwards.

The site is now state-owned and has been a monument historique since 1984 .

Upstream area

Scraper from the Moustérien of La Quina - Muséum de Toulouse
Bones (so-called imprint bones ) with traces of abrasion from La Quina - Muséum de Toulouse

This area of ​​the site essentially provided stone tools from the Moustérien . It is the type locality for the Moustérien of the Quina type , which is characterized by a predominance of convex scrapers . They show the typical Quina retouching technique, which was carried out on short and relatively thick cuts. This technique is characterized by a stair-like profile that is created during the retouching process. Above the Quina type, tools of the toothed type ( French: Moustérien à denticulés ) were also found on top . The latter were dated to 43,000 ± 3,600 years BP using thermoluminescence .

In addition to the stone tools, numerous animal bones were also discovered, including the bones of cattle ( bison ), horses ( Equus caballus ) and reindeer . Some of the bones clearly show traces of human impact. Broken bones and bones with cuts were found; some had apparently also been used as tools for retouching the haircuts ( imprint bones ). L. Henri Martin had already noticed this.

La Quina 18 , now in the National Museum of Natural History
La Quina 5 , 1912

The numerous bone remains of Homo neanderthalensis are remarkable for this site . A total of 27 bone finds were made, which belong to at least 20 individuals. The La Quina 5 find from 1911 is probably an adult female who was buried in a simple tomb. La Quina 18 (skull discovery) represents an eight-year-old Neanderthal child.

Downstream area

In the downstream area, tools from the Châtelperronien were found, which show affinities to the Moustérien à denticulés. Also Aurignacien was encountered, recognizable by spear tips with a split shaft.

Dating

As already mentioned, the Moustérien à denticulés of the upstream site is around 43,000 years old BP . The upper part of the sequence should therefore belong to the Würm II stadium. More recent dates, however, have meanwhile given a much younger age range for the Moustérien - 35 250 to 34 100 years BP.

The Neanderthal finds are older and may have lived in the Interstadial Würm I / II.

Uncalibrated radiocarbon dates (on bones) in the downstream region provide an age of 35,950 years BP for the Châtelperronien and a time span of 32,650 to 30,760 years BP for the Aurignacien.

literature

  • M. Vigneaux: Aquitaine Occidentale . In: Guides géologique régionaux . Masson, Paris 1975, ISBN 2-225-41118-2 , pp. 56-57 .
  • C. Verna and F. d'Errico: The earliest evidence for the use of human bone as a tool. In: Journal of Human Evolution. Volume 60, No. 2, 2011, pp. 145–157, doi: 10.1016 / j.jhevol.2010.07.027

Web links

Commons : La Quina  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ C. Farizy: La Quina, Les Gardes, Charente . In: André Leroi-Gourhan (Ed.): Dictionnaire de la Préhistoire . PUF, 1988, ISBN 2-13-041459-1 .
  2. ↑ A. Debénath, AJ Jelinek: Nouvelles fouilles in La Quina (Charente): résultats préliminaires . In: Gallia Préhistoire . tape 40 , 1998, pp. 29-74 .
  3. ^ L. Henri-Martin: Recherches sur l'évolution du Moustérien dans le gisement de la Quina (Charente) - t. 1: osseuse industry . Schleicher frères, Paris 1910.
  4. ^ B. Vandermeersch: Les Néandertaliens en Charente . In: H. de Lumley (ed.): La Préhistoire française . tape 1 , 1976, p. 584-586 .
  5. ^ L. Henri-Martin: Recherches sur l'évolution du Moustérien dans le gisement de la Quina (Charente) - t. 4: l'enfant fossile de La Quina . In: Mémoires de la Société Archéologique et Historique de la Charente 14 . Angoulême 1923.
  6. ↑ The circumstances of the finds are not always clear or the state of preservation of the bones is poor, so that in the case of the skulls and mandibles from the French caves La Quina, Le Petit-Puy-Moyen, La Chaise Gourdan, Marlanaud, Estelas, Aubert, Isturitz and Salleles-Carbardes a dumping of a ritual character can only be vaguely assumed. MM Rind: Menschenopfer 1998 p. 101
  7. ↑ a b Website of Véronique Dujardin with compiled dates of La Quina and other Charente sites