Another look at the decorated cave of Gabillou (Sourzac, Dordogne, France). An analysis of the lithic and faunal material from J. Gaussen’s excavations

Paléolithique récent Magdalénien inférieur Archéologie des grottes ornées Pétroarchéologie Technologie Industrie lithique Industrie osseuse Chouette harfang Archéozoologie Datation radiocarbone

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Mathieu Langlais et al., « Un autre visage de la grotte ornée de Gabillou (Sourzac, Dordogne, France). Étude du mobilier lithique et osseux des fouilles de J. Gaussen », HAL SHS (Sciences de l’Homme et de la Société), ID : 10.4000/1296l

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In southwestern France, Palaeolithic decorated caves have generally suffered from the ravages of commercial interests linked to their development as tourist attractions. The prehistoric living floors, which potentially contain a wealth of archaeological material, were sometimes destroyed to allow access to the painted and/or engraved walls. However, the archaeological material recovered early on from a number of decorated caves was, however, the focus of particular attention in order to illustrate the graphic and techno-economic behaviour of Palaeolithic communities. Gabillou Cave (Sourzac, Dordogne), discovered in 1940, two weeks after Lascaux, has never been opened to the public because of its narrow karstic passage. Test pits carried out by several prehistorians (D. and E. Peyrony, P. David and then J. Gaussen) along the decorated corridor yielded little in the way of material, apart from limestone lamps, a few faunal remains and flint artefacts. In the wider area at the cave’s entrance, J. Gaussen did recover abundant archaeological material that he attributed to the Magdalenian. This material, disconnected from the decorated walls, comprises faunal remains (mammals and birds), worked bone as well flint and other rocks, particularly metamorphic varieties. This material was only briefly described in the 1964 monograph. Since J. Gaussen’s work, Gabillou Cave has been the subject of several publications, mainly comparing features of the decorated walls with those of Lascaux and highlighting links between them.In tandem with the reassessment of the Lascaux archaeological assemblages as part of the LAsCO project, a revision of the archaeological material from Gabillou was carried out in order to discuss the chrono-cultural similarities of the two caves using a multi-disciplinary approach. While the limestone lamps were not re-analysed, the faunal and lithic collections were reassessed and new direct dates on determinable bones and technological waste products from antler working provided a new absolute chronology for the Palaeolithic occupations of Gabillou. The lithic and antler assemblages are techno-typologically homogeneous, the former characterised by the production of various types of elongated blanks using various methods. These blades and elongated flakes were used as cutting tools or transformed into end-scrapers or burins. Bladelets production is documented by several cores and microliths, while other products are under-represented. The knapping methods and the backed (micro) bladelet component of the Gabillou assemblage is comparable with the Late Lower Magdalenian (20,500-19,500 cal BP). This attribution is also supported by the typo-technological characteristics of the antler industry, which is essentially made up of projectile points with simple bases and longitudinal grooves, which is consistent with several radiocarbon ages. While reindeer is dominant within the mammalian prey spectrum, the number of identified specimens (NISP) compared to the minimum number of individuals (MNI) reveals the assemblage to comprise only three reindeer (including one young adult), three horses (including one yearling), two bovids (an adult and a young specimen), two saiga antelopes (one adult and one young individual) and two adult foxes. The assemblage equally includes game birds, particularly Snowy Owl remains and a limited number of Ptarmigan bones, both typical of Arctic steppe environments. A variety of food and non-food products were extracted from six Snowy Owl carcasses and show strong similarities with what has been identified in the Lower and Middle Magdalenian occupations of Saint-Germain-la-Rivière (Gironde, France). Direct dates obtained from two Snowy Owl remains are in good agreement with the Early Middle Magdalenian (19,200-18,200 cal BP), raising questions concerning multiple occupations of the cave. In the absence of stratigraphic or physico-chemical arguments, the hypothesis of at least two periods of Magdalenian occupation of the Gabillou entrance remains possible. However, our study does not allow a direct link to be made between these occupations and the engravings, which may also have been produced on different occasions.

L’archéologie des grottes ornées consiste à contextualiser et documenter, à partir des archives du sol, un site souvent vu uniquement à travers ses dispositifs graphiques pariétaux. Découverte en 1940 puis étudiée, notamment, sous la direction de J. Gaussen, la grotte de Gabillou (Sourzac, Dordogne) fait partie des rares gisements ornés ayant fait l’objet de fouilles et ramassages à l’issue desquels un abondant mobilier archéologique a pu être récolté. La proximité de certaines compositions pariétales avec les oeuvres de Lascaux découvertes deux semaines plus tôt a conduit plusieurs auteurs à les considérer comme fortement apparentées. La monographie publiée en 1964 témoigne de l’intérêt de Jean Gaussen pour la production des images, abondamment et précisément décrites, et secondairement pour celle des vestiges matériels, présentés en quelques pages. Les fouilles qu’il a menées dans le secteur de l’entrée ont pourtant livré une collection archéologique permettant de documenter des occupations attribuables au Magdalénien et d’enrichir la compréhension du gisement au-delà des seules parois ornées. Dans le cadre du projet « LAsCO », le mobilier a été réexaminé parallèlement à la réalisation de nouvelles datations 14C. Ce travail a été mené sur les vestiges lithiques (hors « lampes » et « godets ») et les restes en matière dure animale. Il permet : 1) de préciser l’attribution du secteur de l’entrée au regard du cadre archéostratigraphique actuellement défini dans le Sud-Ouest français, 2) de s’interroger sur la temporalité de l’occupation du site sur la base des continuités ou discontinuités techniques et chronologiques mises en évidence (hypothèse de deux temps de fréquentation de l’entrée de la grotte : au Magdalénien inférieur récent et au Magdalénien moyen ancien) et 3) de souligner les divergences typo-technologiques et chronologiques entre les équipements lithiques et osseux de Gabillou et Lascaux. Reste que le mobilier de Gabillou ne peut être directement corrélé aux dispositifs pariétaux, laissant ouverte la question de leur lien avec les oeuvres peintes et gravées sur les parois de Lascaux.

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