Context and dating of newly discovered Aurignacian rock art from Abri Castanet (Dordogne, France)
Year: 2012
Type: article
Abstract: In this paper we report on the discovery in 2007 in archaeological context, of part of the engraved and ocher-stained undersurface of the rockshelter ceiling from Abri Castanet, Commune de Sergeac, Dordogne. The engraved/painted undersurface of the massive roof-collapse block, weighing more than a ton, was in direct contact with the surface of the early Aurignacian archaeological layer onto which it had fallen. A series of six molecular filtration dates on faunal bone from the rock surface are internally coherent and yield a mean age estimate of 32,400 radiocarbon years BP. The clearest engraving observable on the newly discovered ceiling fragment fits morphologically into the category of vulvar images, many examples of which were recovered during excavations at the beginning of the 20th century at Abri Castanet and the adjacent site of Abri Blanchard. This new discovery from Castanet provides an age estimate for those earlier finds, all of which were located within a few meters of the image described here.
Source: Paléo
DOI: 10.4000/paleo.2480
Institutions: Travaux et Recherches Archéologiques sur les Cultures, les Espaces et les Sociétés, Université Toulouse - Jean Jaurès, New York University, Ministère de la Culture, Institut National de Recherches Archéologiques Préventives, Histoire Naturelle des Humanités Préhistoriques, Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Stony Brook University, University of Arizona, University of Oxford, Archéologies et Sciences de l’Antiquité, Maison des Sciences de l'Homme Mondes
Language: English
Subfield: Archeology
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W1497218436