Aurignac Cave

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CONTENTS

• Aurignacian Type-Site
• Location
• Discovery and Excavation
• Aurignacian Culture
• Stone Tools
• Prehistoric Art
• Collection of Artifacts and Fossils
• References

Aurignacian Type-Site

Aurignac Cave (Grotte d'Aurignac) is a famous archaeological site in the Haute-Garonne department of southwestern France.

It was here, during the late 19th century, that the earliest evidence (tools, artifacts) of early modern humans, was found.

As a result, Aurignac Cave became the type-site of the culture, which in 1906 was named the Aurignacian by Henri Breuil (1877-1961) and Émile Cartailhac (1845-1921).

In recognition of its contribution to paleoanthropology and Stone Age culture, the Grotte d'Aurignac was declared a national Historic Monument of France in May 26, 1921.

Location

The Aurignac cave is located at the northern end of the town of Aurignac, in the northern foothills of the Pyrenees, in the centre of the region of Franco-Cantabrian art, an area of great cultural activity during the Upper Paleolithic.

The cave complex consists of at least two rock shelters - Abri Lartet and Aurignac II - although archaeologists believe they are part of a much larger set of shelters.

Other famous caves in the Haute-Garonne include: Marsoulas and Montespan - the latter famous for its 'headless bear'.

Discovery and Excavation

Aurignac Cave was discovered in 1852 by Jean-Baptiste Bonnemaison, a quarry worker from Aurignac.

His discovery was reported to paleontologist Édouard Lartet (1801-71), who began an investigation of the site in 1860.

His excavation (1860-63) yielded a large quantity of Stone Age fossils, advanced stone tools and other artifacts, including finely knapped flints, antler and bone carvings, fossilized human bone, as well as the bones of extinct megafauna, such as mammoths, cave bears, woolly rhinoceros, horse, bison and reindeer.

A quantity of Chalcolithic pottery was also unearthed, although this dated to the later Neolithic period.

Lartet - who also investiated Le Moustier, the type-site of the Mousterian culture, and also La Madeleine, the type site of the Magdalenian culture - wrote up his researches at Abri Lartet in the journal article 'Nouvelles Recherches sur la coexistence de l’homme et des grands mammifères fossiles réputés caractéristiques de la dernière époque géologique' ('New Research on the Coexistence of Man and the Large-Mammal Fossils Reputedly Characteristic of the Last Geologic Period') (1861).

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Later Excavations

• In 1961, a team under Louis Méroc (1904-70) uncovered a second shelter at the site, named Aurignac 2. All the tools found were traced to a flint quarry less than 1 km away.
• In 1924, archaeologist Louis Méroc (1904-70) reported the presence of additional shelters without offering specific details. In 1928 and 1946, he made further attempts to locate them, but it wasn't until 1961 that his team uncovered a second larger shelter at the site, named Aurignac II. All the tools found in the new shelter were traced to a flint quarry less than 1 km away.
• In 2017, speleologist Vivien Riout uncovered a dozen new shelters on the crest of Fajolles (the Riout shelters).

Excavations at Aurignac Cave, conducted by Lartet and later archaeologists, established a sequence of three separate layers of deposits.

• The oldest layer, containing large amounts of ash and charcoal, as well as stone tools and fossils, which was attributed to the earliest human occupation, from around 33,000 BC.
• A middle layer, containing fossilised bones and sediments left by animals (cave hyena, fox, horse, wild cattle and reindeer) after the departure of the Aurignacians.
• The youngest layer, from a second human occupation during the Neolithic (around 3,000 BC), which contained pottery shards as well as a series of seventeen human skeletons.

For more about the chronology of Upper Paleolithic culture in Europe, see: Prehistoric Art Timeline (from 540,000 BC).

Aurignacian Culture

The Aurignacian is the first tool industry of the Upper Paleolithic. It was created by Cro-Magnons - the first modern H. sapiens to arrive in Europe.

It was preceded by the Ahmarian and Châtelperronian cultures of the Middle Paleolithic, and followed by the Gravettian culture which lasted from 30,000 to 20,000 BC.

Cro-Magnons left Africa from about 100,000 BC and - according to evidence found at Mandrin Cave, in France - arrived in Europe about 55,000 BC.

So these early Aurignacians were in France for at least 20,000 years before they occupied Aurignac Cave. But the latter was where the first evidence of their arrival was discovered, hence its designation as the Aurignacian type site.

Stone Tools

Aurignacian stone tools were archaeology's first 'Mode 4 technology'. The Aurignacian toolkit is characterized as follows:

• A much wider range of implements than before.
• Greater specialization.
• More extensive use of antler, ivory and bone, in addition to stone.
• Antlers were made into (e.g.) split-based points and bâtons percés.
• Bone technology was used to make (e.g.) tools needed to process animal skins and hides, like smoothers (lissoirs), scrapers (grattoirs), and awls.
• The principal Aurignacian innovation was the introduction of blade tools, which were formed by striking long rectangular flakes from a prepared stone core. They included retouched blades, as well as waisted blades (double ended scrapers) for easier handling.
• Other tools included: bone chisels, burins, plus the traditional axes and hammerstones.
• For more, see: History of Stone Tools.

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Prehistoric Art

There is no special mention of any cave art at Aurignac, although this is not unusual. The Aurignacians tended to decorate deep caves, which they used as sanctuaries rather than communal shelters.

By far the greatest cave painting created during the Aurignacian era in Europe is the series of black drawings at the Chauvet Pont d'Arc Cave in the French Ardèche Valley. This cave was unoccupied, save for a small group of artists.

It was the deep caves, often decorated initially during the Aurignacian, that became the great showcases of Magdalenian art in France and Spain.

Famous prehistoric art belonging to the Aurignacian culture includes:

• El Castillo Cave Sign
  Cantabria, Spain
  Aurignacian art: A single large red dot, dated to 38,000 BC.
• Stadel Cave Sculpture
  Swabian Jura, Germany
  Aurignacian art: Lion Man of Hohlenstein Stadel aka 'Löwenmensch figurine', 38,000 BC.
• Vogelherd Cave Carvings
  Swabian Jura, Germany
  Ivory carvings of lions, mammoths, bison, dated to between 38,000 and 30,000 BC.
• Altxerri Cave Paintings
  Basque Country, Spain
  Animal paintings in Altxerri B, dated to 37,000 BC.
• Abri Cellier Engravings
  Dordogne, France
  Engraved drawings dated to 36,000 BC.
• Abri Blanchard Engravings
  Dordogne, France
  Engraved drawing of aurochs, with aligned cupules.
• Baume-Latrone Paintings
  Occitanie, France
  Unique clay paintings of animals, dated to 35,500 BC.
• Abri Castanet Engravings
  Dordogne, France
  Crude ochre drawings of horses, dated to 35,000 BC.
• Chauvet Cave Paintings
  Ardèche Valley, France
  Sublime black paintings of animals dating to 34,500 BC.
• Fumane Cave Paintings
  Lessini Hills, Verona, Italy
  Simple animal drawings, dated to 34,500 BC.
• Altamira Cave Signs
  Cantabria, Spain
  Red claviform signs, dating to 34,000 BC.
• Tito Bustillo Cave Art
  Ribadesella, Asturias
  A human figure drawn on a stalactite, dates to 34,000 BC.
• Coliboaia Cave Drawings
  Sighestel Valley, Romania
  Black drawings of horses and bison, dating to 30,000 BC.

Collection of Artifacts and Fossils

Many objects from the cave, formerly part of the paleolithic collections at the National Archeology Museum and the Museum of Toulouse, are now on display at the Aurignacian museum in Aurignac town.

References

(1) "Cave Art: A Guide to the Decorated Ice Age Caves of Europe." Bahn, P.G., 2007: Published by Frances Lincoln ltd, 2007. ISBN 0711226555, 9780711226555
(2) "Aurignacian". Wood, Bernard, ed. (2011). Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Human Evolution. John Wiley. ISBN 9781444342475
(3) "Out of Africa: modern human origins special feature: the spread of modern humans in Europe". Hoffecker, JF (September 2009). Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 106 (38): 16040–5.