Un plan méconnu des fouilles de Bailleau à Châtelperron (Allier, 1867): implications topographiques et stratigraphiques et conséquences pour la connaissance du gisement de la « Grotte des Fées »

• Autores: Raphaël Angevin, Elisabeth Lacoste
• Localización: Paléo: revue d'archéologie préhistorique, ISSN 1145-3370, Nº. 30, 2019, págs. 34-50
• Idioma: francés
• Títulos paralelos:
  • An original plan of Bailleau's excavations at Châtelperron (Allier, France, 1867): topographic and stratigraphic implications and consequences for the study of the "Grotte des Fées" (Châtelperronian type-site)
• Enlaces
  • Texto completo
• Resumen

  • The descriptive inventory of the excavation archives of G.-J. Bailleau at the “Grotte des Fées” in Châtelperron (Allier, France), allowed to study several correspondences established with E. Lartet between 1867 and 1870. Having looked again at this documentation, largely unpublished and preserved at the Library of the Arsenal of the University of Toulouse (France), the presence of a plan and a general section of the archaeological site was revealed. They present a capital interest when tracing the history of the XIXth Century explorations. Following the contradictory conclusions published by Zilhão et al. (2006, 2007) and Mellars et al. (2007) regarding the integrity of the stratigraphic sequence, it seemed useful to present these new documents.

    The examination of Bailleau's correspondence with Lartet (20 letters of which 12 directly concern Châtelperron), mirrored by Bailleau's excavation journal, allows us to state several observations that contradict the classic historiography delivered by Delporte and his followers since the 1950’s :

    1 / The excavations conducted by Bailleau at the “Grotte des Fées” began in October 1867, not in the Poirrier Cave as postulated by the historiography, but in the area called the Foyer (Grotte Effondrée), previously explored by Poirrier, Feningre and then by Bailleau himself during several excursions in 1866-1867. The Poirrier and Bailleau Caves were subsequently excavated, simultaneously with the zone of the Foyer ;

    2 / These researches follows several operations realized by A. Poirrier following the discovery of the site in the 1840’s, but also by Lartet and Christy in 1864 ;

    3 / The archaeological work in Châtelperron continued until 1870 - and not in 1872 - as evidenced by the last letter sent by Bailleau to Lartet but also the information contained in the personal journal of the archaeologist and in the last article he published in 1872.

    An excavation plan of Châtelperron drawn up by Bailleau in October 1867 also makes possible to locate the Foyer explored during the XIXth Century, far away from the railway, close to the last chamber of the Grotte Effondrée (“rotunda”), west of the embankment of the current road and the backfill of the previous excavations (Poirrier, Lartet, Feningre). Results of this study show that Delporte excavations (1951-1962) were limited to these reworked zones (Figure 6) : the stratigraphic trench carried out in 1951 at the supposed entrance of the cavity has largely intersected the embankment of the railway, as evidenced by the dip of the stratigraphic layers (figure 4).

    The study of the north and south berms (Palier nord and Palier sud) first focused on the excavated area before 1867, which do not discard that in situ levels could have been preserved. Without doubt, Delporte was limited in his geological perception of the deposits and the original survey section : from a stratigraphic point of view, the limits he drew refer to different realities the interpretation of which requires a critical revision.

    If the location of Bailleau's excavations can logically be restored in the back part on the cave, where Delporte identified the previous excavation site (Foyer), or in its immediate vicinity (north-eastern part), it finally seems that the Palier nord and Palier sud of its archaeological area coincide with the earthworks of the 1840-1845, in addition to the backfills of the Poirrier, Feningre, Lartet and Bailleau excavations. These researches took place in the back part of the Grotte Effondrée used as a quarry, but also close to the “entrance” of the cave, on the embankment bordering the railway whose contents have been partly sorted as evidenced by the analysis of the lithic assemblages from Delporte excavations (Zilhão et al. 2007).