La Ferrassie
La Ferrassie | |
La Ferrassie | |
Location | nearSavignac-de-Miremont |
---|---|
Region | Dordogne,France |
Coordinates | 44°57′07″N0°56′17″E/ 44.95194°N 0.93806°E |
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7d/Grand_abri_de_la_Ferrassie_-_Savignac-de-Miremont_-_20090924.jpg/270px-Grand_abri_de_la_Ferrassie_-_Savignac-de-Miremont_-_20090924.jpg)
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f1/Vulves_gravees_-_La_Ferrassie_-_MNP.jpg/270px-Vulves_gravees_-_La_Ferrassie_-_MNP.jpg)
La Ferrassieis anarchaeological siteinSavignac-de-Miremont,in theDordognedepartment, France.[1]The site, located in theVézèrevalley,[2]consists of a large and deep cave flanked by two rock shelters[3]within a limestone cliff, under which there is ascreeslope formation.[1]
Age
[edit]Artifacts found at the site are the productions ofMousterian(300,000-30,000 BP),Aurignacian(45,000–35,000 BP), andPérigordian(35,000–20,000 BP) cultures.[4]The cave area containsGravettian(32,000–22,000 BP) objects and the scree contains objects from all these ages as well as theChâtelperronian(35,000-29,000 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
[edit]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
[edit]At least seven Neanderthals have been found in La Ferrassie, including infants and one[7]fetus. All specimens were found in a thin 60 cm archaeological layer dated to 74-68 thousand years ago.
Name | Develop- mental age |
Notes |
---|---|---|
La Ferrassie 1♂ | 45 | The skeleton of an adult male, including the most complete Neanderthal skull ever found.[8][better source needed]Discovered in 1909.[3] |
La Ferrassie 2♀ | 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 theMusée de l'Homme.[3] |
La Ferrassie 3 | 10 | A partial child skeleton.[9]: 30–31 [10] |
La Ferrassie 4 | 8.5 months (fetal age)[9] |
The bones of a late-term fetus or of a newborn. Now thought to belong toLe Moustier2.[7] |
La Ferrassie 4bis | ~12 days[10]: 26 | A partial child skeleton.[9]: 30–31 [10] |
La Ferrassie 5 | ~7 months (fetal age)[10] |
Fetus[9]: 38 [11] |
La Ferrassie 6 | 3–5 | Nearly complete skeleton of a juvenile discovered in 1921.[3] |
"La Ferrassie 7" | – | A talus bone named LF7 by Boule (1924), who thought despite its small size that it represented a third adult. Now thought part of La Ferrassie 3.[10]: 6 |
La Ferrassie 8 | 22–26 months[9]: 41 | Young child with well-preserved teeth. |
Notes
[edit]- ^abcPeregrine & Ember 2001
- ^Blades 1999,Abstract
- ^abcdefWood 2011
- ^abBlades 2009
- ^Binford 1968
- ^Peyrony 1934
- ^abB. Maureille (2002). "Anthropology: A lost Neanderthal neonate found".Nature.419(33–34): 33–4.Bibcode:2002Natur.419...33M.doi:10.1038/419033a.PMID12214223.S2CID4354501.
- ^Smithsonian 2010
- ^abcdeJ.-L. Heim (1976).Les Hommes Fossiles de la Ferrassie. Le gisement. Les squelettes adultes (crâne et squelette du tronc).Archives de l'Institut de Paléontologie Humaine. Vol. 1. Paris: Masson.
- ^abcdeJ.-L. Heim (1982).Les enfants néandertaliens de La Ferrassie.Paris: Masson.ISBN2-225-76351-8.
- ^Balzeau and Radovčić (2008)
References
[edit]- Binford, SR (1968). "A Structural Comparison of Disposal of the Dead in the Mousterian and the Upper Paleolithic".Southwestern Journal of Anthropology.24(2): 139–154.doi:10.1086/soutjanth.24.2.3629419.JSTOR3629419.S2CID160261723.
- Blades, BS (July 1999). "Aurignacian lithic economy and early modern human mobility: new perspectives from classic sites in the Vézère valley of France".J Hum Evol.37(1): 91–120.doi:10.1006/jhev.1999.0303.PMID10375477.
- Blades, BS (2009). "Aurignacian Core Reduction and Landscape Utilization at La Ferrasie, France". In Blades, BS; Adams, B (eds.).Lithic Materials and Paleolithic Societies.John Wiley & Sons. pp. 186–95.ISBN9781444311969.
- Peregrine, PN;Ember, M,eds. (2001).Encyclopedia of Prehistory.Vol. 4: Europe. Kluwer Acad.ISBN9780306462641.
- Peyrony, D (1934).La Ferrassie: Moustérien — Périgordien — Aurignacien(PDF)(in French). Reprinted by Kraus Reprint in 1976.
En 1896, j'y fus amené par Tabanou, ce malheureux instituteur qui devait un peu plus tard périr sous un éboulement dans ses recherches à Badegoule.
[dead link] - Quam, Rolf; Martínez, Ignacio; Arsuaga, Juan Luis (2011)."New Observations on the Human Fossils from Petit-Puymoyen (Charente)"(PDF).PaleoAnthropology.2011:102.doi:10.4207/PA.2011.ART44.ISSN1545-0031.[dead link]
- "La Ferrassie".Smithsonian Institution's Human Origins Program. 2010.Retrieved1 December2012.
- Wood, B,ed. (2011).Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Human Evolution.John Wiley & Sons.ISBN9781444342475.
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