Field Projects - New Excavations at Abri Peyrony and Roc de Combe-Capelle

The site of Combe-Capelle, located near the town of Saint-Avit-Sénieur (Dordogne, France), is actually a set of at least four localities: Combe-Capelle Bas, Abri Peyrony, Roc de Combe-Capelle and the Plateau de Ruffet. Each of these localities has its own archaeological sequence that together span the late Middle Paleolithic, the so-called transitional period, and the Upper Paleolithic. Combe-Capelle Bas was excavated by Dibble and Lenoir in the late 1980s and early 1990s. This year new test excavations will be undertaken at the Roc de Combe Capelle and the Abri Peyrony.

The Abri Peyrony (also known as the Haut de Combe-Capelle) was last excavated by D. Peyrony in 1925. It produced a rich Mousterian of Acheulian Tradition (MTA) industry and fauna. At some point prior to 1987, a portion of the site was covered in debris from the nearby quarry in an effort to protect the site. Then in 1990, Lenoir and Dibble did a limited test of the site and were able to locate an archaeological horizon that yielded some stone tools including four bifaces.

The long-term goal is to collect a new, controlled sample of lithics and fauna from the MTA and to date this material. The MTA is quite important as one of the last manifestations of Neadertals in southwest Europe and as perhaps the origins of the Chatelperronian. While it is mostly known from older excavations, more recent excavations at sites like Pech de l'Azé I and IV, Jonzac, and the Bergerac highway sites, are providing new data on the MTA. The new material from the Abri Peyrony will make an additional point of comparison.

In 2009 we opened a trench against the cliff face and located in situ deposits. In 2010 we excavated these deposits to bedrock. Because the site is quite rich, we were able to generate a large lithic and faunal collection that we are now in the process of studying. Thus far we can confirm the presence of MTA only on the lower terrace. The upper terrace industry in clearly Middle Paleolithic, with Levallois and discoidal techniques of blank production, but there are no handaxes or backed pieces. Geological, site formation, dating, faunal, and lithic studies are underway. Whether there are renewed excavations at the site depends on the results of the on-going studies.

The Roc de Combe-Capelle is located about 60m from the Abri Peyrony along the same cliff line. The site became famous in 1909 when Hauser discovered a nearly complete skeleton of Homo sapiens, which Hauser and later others thought was associated with the Chatelperronian at the base of the sequence. Above the Chatelperronian the site also contained Aurignacian, Gravettian and Solutrean. Our excavations in 2009 at this site confirmed that nothing remains of this sequence today and that the site has been entirely excavated (what remains is only backdirt). It is still possible that some smalll, isolated pockets of in situ material remain in places under the backdirt or against the cliff, but we have no additional plans to work at the site.

This year we are studying the materials excavated in 2009 and 2010 in preparation for publication. As a result, there will be no field season.

Please direct your questions to either:

• Shannon McPherron: mcpherron@eva.mpg.de

or

• Michel Lenoir: m.lenoir@ipgq.u-bordeaux1.fr

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