The Cave of Fontéchevade: Recent Excavations and Their Paleoanthropological Implications

ISBN-13: 9780521898447 / Angielski / Twarda / 2008 / 288 str.

Philip Chase; Andre Debenath

Opis

This book provides a summary of the discoveries made during the course of excavations at the Paleolithic cave site of Fontechevade, France, between 1994 and 1998. The excavation team used modern field and analytic methods to address major problems raised by earlier excavations at the site from 1937 to 1954. These earlier excavations produced two sets of data that have been problematic in light of data from other European Paleolithic sites: first, the Lower Paleolithic stone tool industry, the Tayacian, that differs in fundamental ways from other contemporary industries and, second, the human skull fragment that has been interpreted as modern in nature but that apparently dates from the last interglacial, long before there is any evidence for humans from any other site in Europe. By applying modern stratigraphic, lithic, faunal, geological, geophysical, and radiometric analyses, the interdisciplinary team demonstrates that the Tayacian industry is a product of site formation processes and that the actual age of the Fontechevade I fossil is compatible with other evidence for the arrival of modern humans in Europe."

Recenzje

'The publication of [The Cave of] Fontechevade is a chronicle of both the value and the difficulty of reanalyzing material from early excavations. This study makes clear the importance of pairing studies of museum collections with renewed fieldwork, even if this fieldwork is on a modest scale. The results have removed the Fontechevade fossils from their position as early evidence of modern human morphology in Europe and delivered a serious blow to the concept of the Tayacian. At the same time, the study presents Fontechevade as a significant site for understanding site formation processes and hominin behaviour in the Middle Paleolithic and makes it clear that the research potential of the site is far from exhausted.' Michael Chazan, Geoarchaeology: An International Journal

Spis treści

Part I. Introduction, Background, and Methodology Philip G. Chase, André Debénath, Harold L. Dibble and Shannon P. McPherron: 1. Introduction and background; 2. Introduction to the 1994–8 excavations; Part II. Specialized Analyses: 3. Sedimentology and stratigraphy at Fontéchevade William R. Farrand; 4. Paleoclimate delineation using magnetic susceptibility data Brooks B. Ellwood; 5. Electrical resistivity survey of Fontéchevade Shannon P. McPherron and Brooks B. Ellwood; 6. The fossil human remains Philip G. Chase and Virginie Teilhol; 7. Radiometric dates Philip G. Chase, Henry P. Schwarcz and Thomas W. Stafford, Jr; 8. Faunal taphonomy Philip G. Chase and Jean-François Tournepiche; 9. The fauna from Henri-Martin's excavation of bed Jean-François Tournepiche; 10. The Upper Paleolithic of Fontéchevade Laurent Chiotti; 11. Description of the lithic industries Harold L. Dibble and Shannon P. McPherron; Part III. Analysis and Conclusions Philip G. Chase, André Debénath, Harold L. Dibble and Shannon P. McPherron: 12. Processes of site formation and their implications; 13. Summary and conclusions.