La Ferrassie
La Ferrassie is an archaeological site in Savignac-de-Miremont, in the Dordogne department, France.[1] The site, located in the Vézère valley,[2] consists of a large and deep cave flanked by two rock shelters[3] within a limestone cliff, under which there is a scree slope formation.[1]
Age
Artifacts found at the site are the productions of Mousterian (300-30,000 BP), Aurignacian (45–35,000 BP), and Périgordian (35–20,000 BP) cultures.[4] The cave area contains Gravettian (32–22,000 BP) objects and the scree contains objects from all these ages as well as the Châtelperronian (35-29,000 PB). The site was abandoned during the Gravettian period (27 kya).[3] Complex Mousterian burial structures found at La Ferrasie finally provided the evidence of Neanderthal burial practice.[5]
Exploration history
A small area of the site was initially investigated by M. Tabanou in 1896,[3] a teacher who died of a landslide at the Badegoule rock shelter shortly thereafter.[6] Denis Peyrony and Louis Capitan explored the site in 1905, 1907 and 1912; Peyrony in 1934, Henri Delporte in 1969 and 1984, and Delporte with Tuffreau in 1984.[4][1]
Fossils
Eight buried Neanderthals have been found in La Ferrassie, including infants and two fetuses.[7]
Name | Geological age (Kya) |
Develop- mental age |
Note |
---|---|---|---|
La Ferrassie 1 | 68–74 | 45 | The skeleton of an adult male, including the most complete Neanderthal skull ever found.[7] Discovered in 1909.[3] |
La Ferrassie 2 | 68–74 | 25–30 | An incomplete cranium and skeleton of a female Neanderthal found in 1910 and dated to 68-74,000 before present. This is now kept in the Musée de l'Homme.[3] |
La Ferrassie 6 | 68–74 | 3–5 | Nearly complete skeleton of a juvenile discovered in 1921.[3] |
La Ferrassie 8 | 2,5 | Another Neanderthal of approximately two and a half years of age, found in 1982.[8] |
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Peregrine & Ember 2001
- ↑ Blades 1999, Abstract
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Wood 2011
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Blades 2009
- ↑ Binford 1968
- ↑ Peyrony 1934
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Smithsonian 2010
- ↑ Quam, Martínez & Arsuaga 2011
References
- Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
![]() |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to La Ferrassie. |
Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.