30 years later, a new start for the excavations at the Cuvier 2 cave, Fouvent-le-Bas (Haute-Saône, France)

• Main Authors: Lamotte, Agnès, Salvador, Pierre-Gil, Morin, Denis, Fourvel, Jean-Baptiste, Louguet, Sophie, Sévêque, Noémie, Carole, Begeot, Florent Le, Mené, Mickaël, Atton, Hélène, Hamon-Morin, Nicolas, Bur
• Other Authors: Histoire, Archéologie et Littérature des Mondes Anciens - UMR 8164 (HALMA), Université de Lille-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Ministère de la Culture (MC), Territoires, Villes, Environnement & Société - ULR 4477 (TVES), Université du Littoral Côte d'Opale (ULCO)-Université de Lille, Histoire et Cultures de l'Antiquité et du Moyen Âge (HISCANT-MA), Université de Lorraine (UL), Laboratoire méditerranéen de préhistoire Europe-Afrique (LAMPEA), Aix Marseille Université (AMU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Ministère de la Culture (MC), GeoArchEon SARL, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté COMUE (UBFC), Technologie et Ethnologie des Mondes Préhistoriques (TEMPS), Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (UP1)-Université Paris Nanterre (UPN)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Travaux et recherches archéologiques sur les cultures, les espaces et les sociétés (TRACES), École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS)-Université Toulouse - Jean Jaurès (UT2J), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication (MCC)-Institut national de recherches archéologiques préventives (Inrap)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Laboratoire de Mécanique, Multiphysique, Multiéchelle - UMR 9013 (LaMcube), Centrale Lille-Université de Lille-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2024
• Subjects: Cuvier 2 cave; Fouvent-le-Bas; Palaeolithic; steppe-tundra; Hyeana event; Châtelperronian; Gravettian; Mousterian; karstology; [SHS]Humanities and Social Sciences; Tundra
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-04422488

International audience In the village of Fouvent-le-Bas (Haute-Saône, France), two emblematic caves were occupied by both humans and fauna during cold conditions of the Late Pleistocene. Both are located at the edge of the village on the right bank of the Vannon river. The oldest cave is "l'abri Cuvier 1" (excavation of 1825 to 1886), a world-famous archeo-palaeontological site yielding faunal bone remains. Baron Georges Cuvier used as index fossils to recognize the Woolly Mammoth (Cuvier, 1812) and to differenciate the ancient cave hyena from the extant spotted one (Cuvier, 1812, 1825). 165 years later, 20 meters away, along the same limestone escarpment, a long gallery 12 meters long and named « Cuvier 2 » was discovered yielding bone material similar to that found at “Abri Cuvier 1 ». From 1989 to 1992, field work (dir. D. Morin, J. Detrey, G. Huguenin) generated abundant bones remains consisting in typical steppe-tundra mammals (mammoth, rhino, horse) and carnivores (hyena and lion cave). In addition, the lithic industry reveals cores, flakes and tools which belong to the Mousterian but also in the highest levels in the upper Palaeolithic, some projectiles such as Gravette and microgravette points. In 2021, 30 years later, we reopened « Cuvier 2 » gallery and its diverticula (Lamotte (dir.), 2021) in order to cross-reference all the data inherent in this karstic complex from « Cuvier 1 » and « Cuvier 2 » that offered shelter to fauna and human communities during the Late Pleistocene. The use of drones with 5 bands multispectral view and other new technology like photo-grammetry have been key additions to this most recent episode of fieldwork. They have allowed new data to be generated from these ancient caves.