A glacial refuge in the Pays de la Loire? An isotopic study at the Solutrean level of the Grotte Rochefort

• Main Authors: García-Vázquez, Ana, Bemilli, Céline, Catz, Natacha, Colleter, Rozenn, Hinguant, Stéphan, Grandal-d'Anglade, Aurora
• Other Authors: Universidade da Coruña, Institut national de recherches archéologiques préventives (Inrap), Archéozoologie, archéobotanique : sociétés, pratiques et environnements (AASPE), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Archéologies et Sciences de l'Antiquité (ArScAn), Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (UP1)-Université Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint-Denis (UP8)-Université Paris Nanterre (UPN)-Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication (MCC)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institut national de recherches archéologiques préventives - Centre de recherches archéologiques de Cesson-Sévigné (Inrap, Cesson-Sévigné), Anthropologie Moléculaire et Imagerie de Synthèse (AMIS), Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Centre de Recherche en Archéologie, Archéosciences, Histoire (CReAAH), Le Mans Université (UM)-Université de Rennes (UR)-Université de Rennes 2 (UR2)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Nantes - UFR Histoire, Histoire de l'Art et Archéologie (UFR HHAA), Université de Nantes (UN)-Université de Nantes (UN)-Ministère de la Culture (MC), European Association of Archaeologists (EAA)
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2018
• Subjects: Solutrean; stable isotopes; paleodiets; seasonal refuge; [SHS]Humanities and Social Sciences; [SHS.ARCHEO]Humanities and Social Sciences/Archaeology and Prehistory; Arctic; Alopex lagopus; brown bear; Canis lupus; Ice cap; Rangifer tarandus; Ursus arctos
• Online Access: https://univ-rennes.hal.science/hal-02573563

International audience Rochefort cave (Saint-Pierre-sur-Erve, France) is one of the largest caves of the group called "les grottes de Saulges" which are all found along a 1.5 km stretch of the Erve River. Since 2001, an excavation has been carried out in the large chamber which led to the identification of a remarkable Solutrean level with its lithic and faunal assemblages and the presence of art on plaquettes. Stratigraphy and radiocarbon dating give an age between 19,000 and 20,000 BP and the remarkable homogeneity of this unit excludes any possible mix-up with previous or later chronocultures. Fauna and palaeoenvironmental data certify a cold and dry environment during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, OIS 2), in which some protected areas favourable to more temperate species still remained. Thus, if reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) and horses (Equus ferus) dominate in the faunal corpus, alpine ibexes (Capra ibex), woolly rhinoceroses (Coelodonta antiquitatis), mammoths (Mammuthus primigenius), arctic foxes (Alopex lagopus), Red fox (Vulpes vulpes), wolves (Canis lupus), brown bear (Ursus arctos), wild cats (Felis sylvestris) and wild boars (Sus scrofa) are also found. Araeozoological analysis point to a seasonal hunting camp.Stable isotopes analysis of bone collagen from a sample of the fauna of this site indicates a variety of environments for the horse, a specialized diet for reindeer and a variation within the usual values for the remaining species. However, stable isotope values depend not only on diet, but also on basal values in soils and vegetation, which in turn depend on climate. In accordance with the paleoenvironmental interpretation, the stable isotopes of the Rochefort fauna do not differ substantially from those of sites further south in the Dordogne, a refuge in the LGM, suggesting the possibility of a seasonal refuge in this northern area, closer to the front of the Arctic ice cap.