La Ferrassie

La Ferrassie is an archaeological site in Savignac-de-Miremont, in the Dordogne department, France. The site, located in the Vézère valley, consists of a large and deep cave flanked by two rock shelters within a limestone cliff, under which there is a scree slope formation.

Age

Artifacts found at the site are the productions of Mousterian (300,000-30,000 BP), Aurignacian (45,000–35,000 BP), and Périgordian (35,000–20,000 BP) cultures. The cave area contains Gravettian (32,000–22,000 BP) objects and the scree contains objects from all these ages as well as the Châtelperronian (35,000-29,000 PB). The site was abandoned during the Gravettian period (27 kya). Complex Mousterian burial structures found at La Ferrasie finally provided the evidence of Neanderthal burial practice.

Exploration history

A small area of the site was initially investigated by M. Tabanou in 1896, a teacher who died of a landslide at the Badegoule rock shelter shortly thereafter. 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.

Fossils

At least seven Neanderthals have been found in La Ferrassie, including infants and one fetus. All specimens were found in a thin 60 cm archaeological layer dated to 74-68 thousand years ago.

Notes

References

1. La Ferrassie 1
2. Neanderthal
3. Neanderthal anatomy
4. Shanidar Cave
5. Prehistoric Sites and Decorated Caves of the Vézère Valley
6. List of Neanderthal sites
7. Lovelock Cave
8. Périgordian
9. Neanderthal genetics
10. Herto Man
11. Cosquer Cave
12. Jebel Irhoud
13. Sterkfontein
14. Neanderthal extinction
15. Cave of the Trois-Frères
16. Hand axe
17. The Inheritors (Golding novel)
18. Bhimbetka rock shelters
19. Mammoth Cave National Park
20. Rising Star Cave