Les productions à caractère symbolique du site moustérien de La Roche-Cotard à Langeais (Indre-et-Loire, France) dans leur contexte géologique

• Autores: Jean-Claude Marquet, Michel Lorblanchet, Yves Egels, José Esquerre-Pourtère, Maria-Sibylla Hesse
• Localización: Paléo: revue d'archéologie préhistorique, ISSN 1145-3370, Nº. 25, 2014, págs. 169-194
• Idioma: francés
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• Resumen

  • La Roche-Cotard site is located on the right side of the Loire valley, about 20 km down-river from Tours. The site, uncovered in 1846, following the extraction of materials, was excavated in 1912. Research was taken up again from 1975 to 1978, then from 2008 onwards.

    The first reprise of excavations in 1975 allowed for the discovery, at the entrance of a cave on a beach of the Loire on which Neanderthals have made fire, of stone tools and a proto-figurine that was named by M. Lorblanchet the �Mask of La Roche-Cotard� (Marquet & Lorblanchet, 2000, 2003). A very low shelter was also discovered, which contains some stone tools and a layout of blocks on the ground.

    The second reprise of excavations in 2008 allowed for the discovery of a small cave-shelter filled with sediments, presenting also indications of occupation by Neanderthals; but above all it enabled further work on the inside of the main cavity.

    Deeper examination of the cave walls, carried out by J.-C. Marquet, with the support of M. Lorblanchet, P. Paillet and E. Man-Estier, allowed for the recognition of three panels of finger flutings and a panel of point-marks. These marks are visible due to the removal of matter (by hand or with the aid of an instrument giving the same type of marks) on the weathered « tuffeau chalk » wall, recovered by a thin film of silty clay. On one of the panels can be observed a circular representation, on the other two, sets of parallel markings, organized and rhythmic. Four red ochre stains were also discovered.

    Geometric, granulometric and morphologic studies of the deposits, as well as 14C datings of bones and datings of sediments through the OSL method, show that following the occupation by Neanderthals, the entrance to the cave was blotted out and was only reopened in 1846, or even in 1912.

    No direct dating of the markings is possible. However, their localized weathering, datings of bones and sediments found just in front of the panels and naturally the closure of the cave�s entrance after the occupation by Neanderthals allows us to rule out the possibility of a recent age.

    Mask, markings and traces of painting in a cavity inaccessible to Homo sapiens until 1846, geometry of deposits, all add to the great interest in La Roche-Cotard site, at the very moment when we reconsider seriously the question of the competences of the Neanderthals.