Search for early traces of fire in the Caune de l’Arago at Tautavel (Eastern Pyrenees, France), combining magnetic susceptibility measurements, microscopic observations, and Raman analysis

Damien Deldicque,Christophe Falguères,Jean-Noël Rouzaud,Jean-Pierre Pozzi,Christian Perrenoud,Anne-Sophie Lartigot-Campin,Geoffroy Mahieux

doi:10.5802/crgeos.66

Abstract

Search for early traces of fire in the Caune de l’Arago at Tautavel (Eastern Pyrenees, France), combining magnetic susceptibility measurements, microscopic observations, and Raman analysis

Highlights

The Caune de l’Arago is situated near the village of Tautavel (Pyrénées-Orientales, France)
The objective of this study was to search for traces of fires that could have been preserved in the oldest parts of the sedimentary infilling, using a combination of independent methods, prior location with magnetic susceptibility measurements followed by optical microscopy examination and mineralogical characterizations by micro-Raman and scanning electron microscopy (SEM)–energy dispersive analysis (EDS)
We show the effectiveness of combining magnetic susceptibility investigations, optical microscopy, Raman spectrometry, and SEM in the search for ancient traces of combustion

Summary

Introduction

The Caune de l’Arago is situated near the village of Tautavel (Pyrénées-Orientales, France). It is a major Middle Pleistocene archaeological site [de Lumley et al, 2014, de Lumley, 2015], located in a cave opening into the Corbières massif 88 m above the bed of the Verdouble river. The cave contains a 16m thick sedimentary sequence, whose base is dated at around 700 ka [Yokoyama et al, 1982]. The thick sedimentary deposits are delimited above and below by stalagmitic floors (Figure 1), the most recent of which is dated at ∼100 ka [Falguères et al, 2004]. Excavations and archaeostratigraphic studies have identified 55 archaeostratigraphic units rich in thousands of faunal remains, lithic artefacts, and several human remains, including the skull of the Tautavel Man, Homo erectus tautavelensis [de Lumley and de Lumley, 1971, de Lumley, 2015], dated at 455 ka [Yokoyama et al, 1981], as well as the oldest human fossil found in France, a child’s incisor with an estimated age of 560 ka (excavations 2018)

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Discussion

Conclusion