Combe Grenal | |
  Location in France Show map of Aquitaine Combe Grenal (France) Show map of France | |
| Location | Domme, Dordogne |
|---|---|
| Region | Dordogne, Aquitania, France |
| Coordinates | 44°48′20″N1°13′37″E / 44.80556°N 1.22694°E /44.80556; 1.22694 |
| History | |
| Periods | Palaeolithic |
| Cultures | Acheulean, Mousterian |
| Site notes | |
| Excavation dates | between 1953 and 1965 |
| Archaeologists | François Bordes |
Combe Grenal, also known asCombe-Grenal, is anarcheological site consisting of a collapsed cave and a slope deposit nearDomme, Dordogne in Dordogne, France. It dates back to c. 130,000 to 50,000Before Present (BP).[1]
First described byFrançois Jouannet in 1812, it was again briefly described byÉdouard Lartet andHenry Christy in "Cavernes du Perigord" published inRevue archéologique in 1864.[1] In the 1930s, D. and E. Peyrony did excavations, but the cave was first thoroughly excavated byFrançois Bordes from 1953 to 1965.[2]
The site's stratigraphic sequence is 13 meters in depth and has 64 layers (65 layers in some sources). 55 layers areMousterian while the 9 layers near the bottom areAcheulean.[2] The oldest layers date back to the end of theRiss glaciation and the youngest to theWürm glaciation.[1]
The oldestNeanderthal remains were found in layer 60. There were also remains found in levels 39 and 35. Most remains are found in level 25, which includes 24 cranial and post-cranial specimens estimated to date to about 75,000–65,000 years BP.[3] In 2009, part of anincisor belonging to a child about 3 three years old (estimate 2–4 years) (Combe-Grenal Hominid 31) was discovered in layer 60. Estimated to be 130,000 years, this is the oldest human fossil in the regionAquitaine.[4]
ArcheologistLewis Binford found that some stone tool cut marks on the jaw remains of reindeer, red deer and horses at Combe Grenal were similar to cut marks oncaribous jaws that contemporaryNunamiuts hunted in Alaska. The Nunamiuts made the cut marks in order to remove the tongue, and Binford assumed the Neatherthals left the marks for a similar reason.[5]
Early wood structure perhaps withthatched roof was indicated in Mousterian layers.[6]
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