In 1994, the authors of this book undertook new excavations at the Cave of Fontéchevade, a site best known for its human remains and the uncommon artifact assemblages recovered by Germaine Henri-Martin in the 1950s. Henri Vallois attributed the skull fragments to an early form of Homo sapiens, which he designated as presapiens, and the artifact assemblages associated with them were labeled “Tayacian” by Henri Breuil, who had also confirmed the relatively early (interglacial) date based on faunal association. Henri-Martin's interpretation of the cave as a campsite marked by the presence of large hearths was supported by observations and arguments in line with accepted views of her time. However, progress in recovery and analytical techniques and changes in perspectives and theories lead present-day researchers to challenge earlier findings and sometimes overturn the interpretations proposed by previous generations of archaeologists. The latest work at Fontéchevade is a vivid illustration of this process.

Discovered at the end of the nineteenth century, the cave was first excavated in the years before World War I, and although visited occasionally by professional archaeologists, it was abandoned to looters for some 20 years before becoming Germaine Henri-Martin's research focus in 1937. She worked at the site off and on until 1955. The site was then considered closed until the new team, whose results are described in this monograph, decided to undertake a new series of investigations.