Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword by Anta Montet-White
- Acknowledgments
- List of Authors and Contributors
- PART I INTRODUCTION, BACKGROUND, AND METHODOLOGY
- PART II SPECIALIZED ANALYSES
- 3 Sedimentology and Stratigraphy at Fontéchevade
- 4 Paleoclimate Delineation Using Magnetic Susceptibility Data
- 5 Electrical Resistivity Survey of Fontéchevade
- 6 The Fossil Human Remains
- 7 Radiometric Dates
- 8 Faunal Taphonomy
- 9 The Fauna from Henri-Martin's Excavation of Bed E
- 10 The Upper Paleolithic of Fontéchevade
- 11 Description of the Lithic Industries
- PART III ANALYSIS AND CONCLUSIONS
- References
- Index
9 - The Fauna from Henri-Martin's Excavation of Bed E
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 May 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword by Anta Montet-White
- Acknowledgments
- List of Authors and Contributors
- PART I INTRODUCTION, BACKGROUND, AND METHODOLOGY
- PART II SPECIALIZED ANALYSES
- 3 Sedimentology and Stratigraphy at Fontéchevade
- 4 Paleoclimate Delineation Using Magnetic Susceptibility Data
- 5 Electrical Resistivity Survey of Fontéchevade
- 6 The Fossil Human Remains
- 7 Radiometric Dates
- 8 Faunal Taphonomy
- 9 The Fauna from Henri-Martin's Excavation of Bed E
- 10 The Upper Paleolithic of Fontéchevade
- 11 Description of the Lithic Industries
- PART III ANALYSIS AND CONCLUSIONS
- References
- Index
Summary
Almost 50 years after its publication by Arambourg (1958), the large mammal fauna of the “Tayacian” bed of Fontéchevade merits reanalysis in light of our current knowledge. Even though it was collected with minimal data concerning provenience, the collection remains a precious source of information concerning paleoenvironment, paleontology, taphonomy, and, above all, biostratigraphy.
This chapter presents only the essential results that permitted taxonomic attribution of certain large mammals from Bed E; it discusses as well the chronological position of the Fontéchevade fauna in the French Pleistocene.
HISTORY OF RESEARCH: THE EARLY EXCAVATIONS
From the earliest research, the fauna from the early beds of Fontéchevade took on a particular importance because they indicated the existence of an ancient temperate period rarely encountered in French Pleistocene deposits. The Abbé Breuil said to Henri-Martin in 1939, “Be aware that it is very old: [rhinoceros] Mercki, fallow deer, tortoise” (Henri-Martin 1957:6).
When the excavations were complete, Arambourg (1958:225) made a succinct study of this fauna and attributed it to a temperate period earlier then the Würm. He showed, however, a certain prudence in reaching this conclusion:
Chronologically, it is at least as old as the last interglacial, to which it may belong, but although it is thus possible to fix an upper limit to its age, no paleontological argument permits us to go further in the deductions we would like to draw from the fauna [chronologiquement, c'est donc au moins au dernier interglaciaire qu'elle peut correspondre mais, s'il est possible de fixer ainsi une limite supérieure à son ancienneté, aucun argument paléontologique ne permet, par contre, d'aller plus avant dans les précisions que l'on souhaiterait pouvoir en déduire].
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cave of FontéchevadeRecent Excavations and their Paleoanthropological Implications, pp. 139 - 153Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2008