Mousterian (Neanderthal) Sites Mousterian (Neanderthal) SitesLa Quina is located in the Charente region of south-western France, approximately 5 km from the village of Villebois-Lavalette. The site itself has been known for more than a century and was first excavated systematically between 1905 and 1935 by the French archaeologist Dr. Henri Martin. Subsequently, Germaine Henri-Martin continued excavation from 1953 until the late 1960s. After her death in 1975, the site became the property of the Musée des Antiquités Nationales.
The area around La Quina is characterised by limestone cliffs cut by the Voultron River which still flows through the area today and shallow rockshelters resulting from differential weathering of the limestone. The primary site (or Station Amont) originally consisted of an accumulation of deposits of more than seven metres deep which extended for approximately 100 metres at the base of a limestone cliff.
In addition, other sediments some 200 metres to the southwest comprise the Station Aval. The Station Aval contained a sequence of Mousterian, Chatelperronian, and Aurignacian levels. The more extensive section of the Station Amont, the focus of recent excavations, displays a deep stratified sequence of Mousterian layers which have yielded large numbers of faunal remains as well as abundant stone tools and the fragmentary remains of over 25 hominids. Those specimens that are taxonomically identifiable have been attributed to Homo sapiens neanderthalensis.
The artisans of the Quina Mousterian industry type (thick asymmetric tools transformed many times) had a particular way of life: they were hunters specializing in the hunt for Reindeer or Bison, and they moved following the herds.
Their prey was generally transported, either all or in part, back to their base camps, caves or shelters.
Text: Translated and adapted from the display at le Musée National de Préhistoire, Les Eyzies
Photo: http://roudier-neandertal.blogspot.com/
Artist:© Emmanuel Roudier, 2008
Superb watercolours were done for this exhibition by the French artist, Emmanuel Roudier.
Blog: http://roudier-neandertal.blogspot.com/ Contact: emmanuelroudier@gmail.com
Map of the region
Photo: Debénath A. et al (1998)
Les artisans de l'industrie moustérienne de type Quina (éclats épais asymétriques portant des outils transformés de nombreuses fois) ont un mode de vie particulier: chasseurs spécialisés dans la traque du Renne ou du Bison, ils se déplacent en suivant les troupeaux.
Text: Display at Musée National de Préhistoire, Les Eyzies
Photo: http://roudier-neandertal.blogspot.com/
Artist:© Emmanuel Roudier, 2008
Superb watercolours were done for this exhibition by the French artist, Emmanuel Roudier.
Blog: http://roudier-neandertal.blogspot.com/ Contact: emmanuelroudier@gmail.com
Les proies sont généralement rapportées, pour tout ou parties, aux camps de base, grottes ou abris. Ils ne semblent pas enterrer leurs morts, mais pratiquent sur eux des gestes funéraires complexes (décharnement des corps).
Text: Display at Musée National de Préhistoire, Les Eyzies
Photo: http://roudier-neandertal.blogspot.com/
Artist:© Emmanuel Roudier, 2008
Superb watercolours were done for this exhibition by the French artist, Emmanuel Roudier.
Blog: http://roudier-neandertal.blogspot.com/ Contact: emmanuelroudier@gmail.com
Débitage Quina expérimentale. Cette méthode permet de produire des éclats épais à section asymétrique.
Experimental flint knapping using the La Quina method. This method allows the production of thick flakes with an asymmetrical cross section.
Text: Translated and adapted from the display at le Musée National de Préhistoire, Les Eyzies
Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008
Source: Display at le Musée National de Préhistoire, Les Eyzies
For comparison, experimental flint knapping using the Levallois method.
Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008
Source: Display at le Musée National de Préhistoire, Les Eyzies
This tool was sold on the open market, and was described thus:
This stone tool was fashioned by Neanderthals over 40 000 years ago out of flint and discovered in the world famous region of Dordogne, France, considered to be the 'Capitol of Prehistory'. The site this specimen was excavated from is now closed and protected by the government. This rare artifact was legally collected with the landowner's permission decades ago before the area was sealed.
This specimen is classified as a convex scraper utilising Quina retouching. It displays a used and re-sharpened cutting edge and was made on a very large and thick flint flake. Superb workmanship, patina and retouching. Cutting end shows some of the finest craftsmanship of this flaking method! Ingenious design where the Neanderthal maker incorporated a natural depression in the flint nodule to be used as a thumb grip (see above photo). Such forethought and three-dimensional conception is proof of the very high level of intelligence in the Neanderthal people. Lightly encrusted with the original occupation layer deposits. Large area of the original cortex present. This rare Neanderthal tool was collected in a rock shelter from a subterranean level that was once a Neanderthal occupation layer. Famous site find! No restoration, no repair and no modern damage.
The Quina type Mousterian Tradition is unique and originally known from the la Quina type-site at Charente, France. La Quina is particularly important because of the Neanderthal skeletal remains found in association with rich cultural and faunal materials it contains. The site has undergone extensive excavation and the large faunal assemblage should permit reconstruction of Mousterian hunting techniques and demonstrate how these changed and developed over time. The flaking technique known as la Quina retouch was first found at this important site and is characterized by a stepped, scalar retouch on the edges of scrapers.
Photo: http://www.paleodirect.com/m147.htm
Section of the strata at La Quina, the strata removed during excavations being represented by stippled lines. (After Dr Henri Martin.)
Photo: Keith (1915)
Profile of the skeleton of La Quina.
On the 16th October 1911, Dr Henri Martin sent a note
to the Academic des Sciences in Paris announcing the discovery
of a human skeleton of the Neanderthal type, on the i8th
September last, in the station of La Quina (Charente).
The skeleton lay in a horizontal position, in an ancient muddy
deposit of the river Voultron, forming part of the lower
Mousterien debris, and at a distance of 4.50 metres from the
base of the present cliff. The stratum in which the skeleton
was embedded consisted of sandy clay, underlying a mass of
fallen rocks from the cliff which in Mousterien times projected
over the bank of the river.
The skeleton
was buried in its muddy bed to the extent of 0.80 metre, but
it was not surrounded by a grave, nor was there any appearance
of its having been intentionally inhumed. On the
contrary, the situation and circumstances indicated that the
body had either fallen from the cliff, or was carried by the
current of the stream into the place where it was found, and so
became permanently entombed in the sedimentary debris of the river.
Text: Munro (1912)
Photo:Martin (1911)
Site of La Quina before excavations and during the time of occupation.
Photo: Munro (1912)
Site of La Quina after excavations.
1. Couche sableuse supérieur.
2. Couche argileuse noire. Ossements utilisés.
3. Couche argilo-sableuse verdâtre Industrie moustier.
4. Couche de sable fin. Stérile.
5. Cailloutis du premier horizon moustérien.
7. Terre vegetate.
10. Gros blocs d'éboulis.
11. Couche de calcaires roulés (noire).
12. Couche de calcaires roulés (rouge).
13. Grande corniche (Turonient).
Photo: Munro (1912)
1. Top sand layer.Some flint scrapers and pointers, a round ball of limestone, and a few bones of ruminants and of the horse, showing rude workmanship, were also found in the same stratum ; but there were none of the finer worked objects characteristic of the upper Mousterien.
2. Black clay layer. Bone tools.
3. Greenish sandy clay layer. Mousterian industry .
4. Layer of fine sand. Sterile.
5. Gravel of the first Mousterian horizon.
7. Treed surface.
10. Large blocks of scree.
11. Layer of rounded limestone (black).
12. Layer of rounded limestone (red).
13. High cliff (of the Turonian age, Upper Cretaceous, 94 to 89 million years ago).
Cr. indicates the spot where the skeleton was found.
Photograph I
The gisement or archeological dig of La Quina. State of the excavations 18th October, 1911, after removal of the block containing the human skeleton in layer 3. The human bones have been drawn in later by M. Ed. Hue on the photograph and show the exact location of the pieces collected.
1 and 2 - Advanced Mousterian archaeological layers.
3 - Sandy clay containing a more simple, primitive Mousterian, without, however, being at the very base of the sediments, because two lower levels, very poor and thin, are below this level.
Photo: Martin (1911)
Text: translated and adapted from Martin (1911) by Don Hitchcock
Photograph II and Photograph III
Photograph II - Front view of the skull. The photograph was taken during one of the first phases of disengagement from the matrix, in the Peyrat laboratory. The skull is resting on the right side and is still has some of the sand-clay matrix attached. Three teeth found with the skull at the time of the discovery are not yet replaced.
Photograph III - Side view of the skull. Photograph taken at the end of the first release from the matrix, before complete restoration.
The separation of the bones of the skull shows the good condition of the sutures. The frontal is nested in the parietal. The left eyebrow is visible and prominent, the upper maxilla is depressed, and so is the temporal. The occipital bone is straightened. Below and to the right is the left humerus and probably the scapula. The distance that separates the chin from the top of the eyebrow is 146mm.
Photo: Martin (1911)
Text: translated and adapted from Martin (1911) by Don Hitchcock
Micro-CT-based series of virtual axial sections of a 50 000 - 40 000 year old adult Neanderthal hemimandible from the Mousterian levels of the La Quina rock shelter, Charente, France. The thick cortical bone and complex distribution of alveolar trabeculae are revealed, by LUCA BONDIOLI, ROBERTO MACCHIARELLI AND ARNAUD MAZURIER.
Photo: Cover of Nature, November 2007 Volume 203 No 9
In the evidence provided by the discoveries at Le Moustier, La Ferrassie, and La Chapelle-aux-Saints, one is forced to the conclusion that the Dordogne, during the Mousterian period, had as its sole inhabitants men of the Neanderthal type; in the succeeding period - the Aurignacian - men of the modern type took their place. At least, men of the modern type have never been found in a stratum of Mousterian age in this region; only remains of Neanderthal men have been so found. Such an inference has the further support of discoveries made by Dr Henri Martin in the Department of Charente, adjoining of the Dordogne on the north-west.
For fifteen years, from 1905 onwards, Dr Martin explored a deposit of Mousterian age, situated at the foot of an old rock shelter at La Quina and buried under the debris which had fallen from the cliff. Along the valley and near the cliff flows a small stream - the Voultron - on its way to join the Dronne, another of the northern tributaries of the Dordogne. The deposits at La Quina showed three strata, belonging to different phases of the Mousterian period. Dr Martin found not only the typical implements of the middle and later stages of the period, with remains of the reindeer, the horse, and primitive ox (Bos primigenius), but also rude implements worked in bone.
In 1910, he found a human astragalus or anklebone which was recognised by its peculiar form to be that of a man of the Neanderthal type - so distinctive is the structure of this race. In September 1911, two years after the famous discoveries in the region of the Dordogne, Dr Martin found in the lowest part of the deeper of the two Mousterian strata, a human skeleton, again of the Neanderthal type. The bones were embedded in a greenish sandy clay, a silt deposited in the bed of the Voultron when that stream flowed nearer to the foot of the rock shelter than it does now. The discoverer formed the opinion that the body had fallen into the stream and had thus become naturally entombed. When we remember the instances already cited, where men of both the Mousterian and Aurignacian periods have buried their dead near or under the sites of habitation, we are inclined to regard La Quina as a similar case - one of burial.
Altogether parts of about twenty individuals were found. The skull of a child aged eight years shows distinctive features; the supra-orbital ridges are already in the process of development, and the eye sockets are remarkably large.
The skeleton found at La Quina is probably that of a woman - the first of her race to be discovered in France. Neanderthal women have also been found elsewhere - in Croatia. Probably, too, the Gibraltar skull is that of a woman. We are familiar with the sexual differences which distinguish the average modern man from the average woman. Our knowledge is founded on the study of hundreds of individuals. When a totally new form of mankind is discovered, we cannot foretell the manner or the degree of sexual differentiation. Hence the uncertainty as regards the sex of the individual represented by the La Quina skeleton. The skull is long, 203 mm; rather narrow in comparison with the length, 138 mm, giving a head index of 68. (138/203*100 = 68% - Don) The eyebrow ridges are as greatly and prominently developed as in male skulls, and such is not the case in skulls of modern women.
The jaws of the La Quina woman are strong and the teeth big. The bones of the vault of the skull are about 5 mm in thickness, whereas in the skulls of Neanderthal men in particular and Palaeolithic men in general, the vault has a thickness of 8 or 10 mm. The brain capacity of the skull is estimated by Professor Anthony at 1350 cc, about the same as for modern women, but 250 cc less than the capacity of the La Chapelle man's skull. The stature is calculated to have been 1.500 m, about five feet.
La Quina 9 dentition.
Occlusal view of the La Quina 9 left postcanine dentition.
Photo and text: Trinkaus, E. et al. (1998)
They do not seem to have buried their dead, but practised complex funeral ceremonies involving removal of the meat from the bones of the bodies.
Text: Translated and adapted from the display at le Musée National de Préhistoire, Les Eyzies
Photo: http://roudier-neandertal.blogspot.com/
Artist:© Emmanuel Roudier, 2008
Superb watercolours were done for this exhibition by the French artist, Emmanuel Roudier.
Blog: http://roudier-neandertal.blogspot.com/ Contact: emmanuelroudier@gmail.com
In a preliminary synthesis of excavations at La Quina from 1985 through 1994, Debénath A. et al (1998) observe that the report aimed to establish a detailed stratigraphy of the sediments, to understand the mechanisms and circumstances of their deposition, to define the chronology of the formations in terms of absolute dates, and to determine the palaeoenvironments in which people lived at La Quina, and to develop a detailed understanding of the material culture and human activities at the site.
The lithic industries were all Mousterian: Denticulate Mousterian and Mousterian of Acheulian tradition in the upper levels, and Quina Mousterian in the lower intermediate levels.
In terms of palaeontology, there is a certain monotony in the species present: bovines (Bos and Bison), horse and reindeer. Only their relative frequencies vary significantly in different levels of the profile. These species indicate an open environment. The reindeer are represented by distal limb bones indicating marrow extraction, and the horses, which are represented in the upper levels primarily by fragments of skull and pelvis.
In terms of human palaeontology, a fragment of a child's frontal bone, and a portion of an adult calotte (top of the skull - Don) in the lower beds (Quina Mousterian) as well as several teeth.
(Gauche) Stratigraphie de la coupe nord, (droit) Stratigraphie de la coupe sud
(Left) Stratigraphy of the north cut, (right) Stratigraphy of the south cut.
Photo: Debénath A. et al (1998)
The sequence at the primary site, Station Amont is divided into upper and lower deposits.Text above adapted from Hardy B. (2004)
(Note that the terms upper and lower deposits used by Hardy B. (2004) are the same as the terms la coupe nord and la coupe sud of Debénath A. et al (1998) - Don).
The upper levels, numbered 1-8, lie in front of and fill a small rockshelter near the top of the lowest cliff scarp and are layered horizontally. The faunal remains are densely packed and often highly comminuted.
(Comminuted means reduced to small pieces or particles by pounding or abrading - Don).
Lithics in the upper deposits consist mainly of débitage with formal tools including primarily denticulates and notches and other tool classes poorly represented. Beds 1-8 are separated from the lower sediments (Beds FQ) by a layer of sterile colluvium 1.5-2 m thick. The lithic industries of the lower deposits are typologically classified as Quina Motisterian. Levels L and M from this sequence were included in this analysis.
Thermoluminescence dating of heated flint indicates that levels 6a-8 accumulated during oxygen isotope stage (OIS) 3 between approximately 40-48 thousand years ago (kya). The fauna includes horse (Equus caballus), bison (Bison sp.) and reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) throughout the sequence with reindeer dominant in levels 7 and 8. The fauna suggests a climate of cold to moderate open steppe. The dominance of reindeer in Levels 7 and 8 suggests a cold period of OIS 3. Palynology shows low levels of arboreal pollen (5-10 per cent) throughout, although they are lowest in levels 7 and 8.
The lower deposits (beds F-Q) are probably later than OLS 5 and belong in early OIS 4, between approximately 57-71 kya, based on the presence of reindeer remains. The predominance of horse, bison, and reindeer throughout the sequence suggests conditions considerably colder than present.
Dans plusieurs gisements (Pradelles/Marillac, Combe-Grenal ), des os humains éparpillés présentent des traces de découpe. Ces marques impliquent une intervention directe sur les cadavres, immédiatement après la mort ou un peu plus tard.
Ces gestes peuvent correspondre, soit à du cannibalisme, soit à des rite funéraires complexes impliquant le démembrement total ou partiel des cadavres.
Text: Display at le Musée National de Préhistoire, Les Eyzies
Photo: http://roudier-neandertal.blogspot.com/
Artist:© Emmanuel Roudier, 2008
Superb watercolours were done for this exhibition by the French artist, Emmanuel Roudier.
Blog: http://roudier-neandertal.blogspot.com/ Contact: emmanuelroudier@gmail.com
Restes humains présentant des traces de découpe, Combe-Grenal, fouille F. Bordes
Human remains showing signs of cutting, Combe-Grenal, excavation F. Bordes
Text: adapted and translated from the display at Musée National de Préhistoire, Les Eyzies
Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008
Source: Originals, display at Musée National de Préhistoire, Les Eyzies
In several archaeological sites (Pradelles / Marillac, Combe-Grenal ), scattered human bones show signs of cutting. These marks imply a direct intervention on the corpses immediately after death or a little later.
These gestures may correspond either to cannibalism or to a complex funeral ritual involving the total or partial dismemberment of the corpses.
Text: Translated and adapted from the display at the Musée National de Préhistoire, Les Eyzies
Photo: http://roudier-neandertal.blogspot.com/
Artist:© Emmanuel Roudier, 2008
Superb watercolours were done for this exhibition by the French artist, Emmanuel Roudier.
Blog: http://roudier-neandertal.blogspot.com/ Contact: emmanuelroudier@gmail.com
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