Abstract
AbstractThe grand abri at La Ferrassie (France) has been a key site for Palaeolithic research since the early part of the 20th century. It became the eponymous site for one variant of Middle Palaeolithic stone tools, and its sequence was used to define stages of the Aurignacian, an early phase of the Upper Palaeolithic. Several Neanderthal remains, including two relatively intact skeletons, make it one of the most important sites for the study of Neanderthal morphology and one of the more important data sets when discussing the Neanderthal treatment of the dead. However, the site has remained essentially undated. Our goal here is to provide a robust chronological framework of the La Ferrassie sequence to be used for broad regional models about human behaviour during the late Middle to Upper Palaeolithic periods. To achieve this goal, we used a combination of modern excavation methods, extensive geoarchaeological analyses, and radiocarbon dating. If we accept that Neanderthals were responsible for the Châtelperronian, then our results suggest an overlap of ca. 1600 years with the newly arrived Homo sapiens found elsewhere in France.
Highlights
In Europe, the period between 50 000 and 39 000 years ago was important for Neanderthals and their interaction with Homo sapiens (Hublin, 2015, Higham et al, 2014, Hublin et al, 2020)
All bone samples were pretreated in the Department of Human Evolution at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (MPI‐EVA), Leipzig, Germany, using the method described by Talamo and Richards (2011): the outer surface of the bone sample is first cleaned by a shot blaster and 500 mg of the bone is taken
Together the isotopic values and the Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FTIR) results show that the environmental conditions across the Western Sector at La Ferrassie were overall good for collagen preservation (Table 3, and Fig. S1)
Summary
In Europe, the period between 50 000 and 39 000 years ago was important for Neanderthals and their interaction with Homo sapiens (Hublin, 2015, Higham et al, 2014, Hublin et al, 2020) During this time, usually referred to as the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition period, Homo sapiens entered Europe and eventually spread across most of the continent, encountering Neanderthals along the way. In many regions, artefact assemblages from this period are interpreted as transitional industries These relatively short‐lived and spatially limited archaeological entities appear to combine elements of the preceding Middle Palaeolithic (Neanderthals) with innovative elements of the subsequent Upper Palaeolithic (Homo sapiens), though to varying degrees (Ruebens et al, 2015). The region‐ by‐region timing of the spread of Homo sapiens and the demise of Neanderthals are all highly debated topics for which having good chronological control is essential (Hublin, 2015)
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