In:
Collection EDYTEM. Cahiers de géographie, PERSEE Program, Vol. 13, No. 1 ( 2012), p. 43-62
Abstract:
Research conducted in the Chauvet cave show the exceptional nature of this cavity in prehistory, palaeontology and geomorphology. These sciences have provided information on panels decorated, human and animal occupation, the evolution of the cavity and chronological framework. However, different elements of the landscape underground (accumulation, blocks aligned, moving objects, bones planted), even they have retained the attention of early researchers had been little specific research until recent years. Geomorphological and archaeological studies helped to highlight the cultural character of the landscape elements and different types of development of the cavity (bath, steps). The results of the work on three man-made structures in the Chauvet cave (Cactus, Panneaux Rouges, bassins du Cierge) are presented here. The emphasis is on methodological developments that were required to discriminate, on objective criteria, the natural or anthropogenic structures studied. The approach coupled with geomorphological mapping surveys and 3D surveys helped us to determine the morphogenic processes or anthropogenic necessary for their construction. The archaeological approach can contextualize these structures in relation to the parietal objects, prehistoric and paleontological present in the cavity. These preliminary results underline that the Chauvet Cave has, apart from works parietal anthropogenic, many testimonies in the landscape of the underground cavity. These stories offer a new perspective on the appropriation of the cave by the Men of prehistory. The study of the structures and facilities of the Chauvet cave propose a new dimension to the geomorphological approach as it is applied in the cavity : the vector of knowledge on intentional acts, designed and built by the Men of Prehistory. Geomorphology gives now a social and cultural dimension.
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
ISSN:
1762-4304
DOI:
10.3406/edyte.2012.1204
Language:
French
Publisher:
PERSEE Program
Publication Date:
2012
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