Domestic space or burial space? Interrogating the Final Gravettian at the abri Pataud

Author(s): Roland Nespoulet; Laurent Chiotti; Dominique Henry-Gambier

Year: 2015

Summary

The status and significance of the assemblage of human remains in the Final Gravettian of the Abri Pataud (level 2, 22 kya) had never really been broached during the excavations of H.L. Movius (1958, 1963). A three-pronged approach (archive analysis, study of old collections, and targeted excavation), started in 2005, allows us to propose a new interpretation of these remains as well the entirety of level 2.

This study takes into account the natural configuration of the rock shelter, its geological history, the detailed analysis of sedimentary deposits, the archaeological context of human remains, and their revision through an archaeothanatological approach. The result is a new interpretation of the human remains and the discovery of unexpected mortuary practices in the Final Gravettian at differs from known mortuary practices in other Gravettian sites in Europe. The link between habitat and burial place (succession or synchrony) is discussed. Our results and assumptions contribute to the cultural definition of an original facies of the French Gravettian.

Our approach highlights the importance of reinvestigation in key Paleolithic sites and emphasizes a major methodological challenge: how to integrate old and new data and interpretations separated by 40 years?

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Cite this Record

Domestic space or burial space? Interrogating the Final Gravettian at the abri Pataud. Roland Nespoulet, Dominique Henry-Gambier, Laurent Chiotti. Presented at The 80th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, San Francisco, California. 2015 ( tDAR id: 395389)

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Keywords

General
Gravettian • Human Remains

Geographic Keywords
Europe

Spatial Coverage

min long: -11.074; min lat: 37.44 ; max long: 50.098; max lat: 70.845 ;