La Roche-Cotard Cave

La Roche-Cotard

France · Centre-Val de Loire, Indre-et-Loire, Langeais

CaveIntermittent excavation
Approximate periodMiddle Paleolithic See on the map ↓

In brief

The interior deposits of the cave in the Loire valley were first extensively excavated in 1912. New research on wall markings and preserved deposits has contributed to the study of Neanderthal behavior.

What was found?

  • 1Non-figurative lines on the walls

    Arrangements consisting of wavy, curved and parallel lines were found on the cave walls. According to researchers, these marks, most of them made with fingers, are the product of deliberate design.

  • 2Mousterian stone tools

    The stone tools inside the cave display Mousterian characteristics. Together with dating evidence, they are used to attribute the lines to Neanderthals.

  • 3Animal bones

    Numerous bones of animals such as horses and bison were recorded during the first excavations. According to CNRS, these early excavation finds were subsequently lost; today we know of them through old records.

What does it point to?

According to researchers, the wall lines show that Neanderthals could create organized, non-figurative visual designs. Whether the lines conveyed a particular belief or symbolic message is unknown.

What did it teach us?

  1. By evaluating the cave's closure date together with the stone tools, it strongly supported the attribution of the lines to Neanderthals.
  2. It used experimental comparisons to distinguish human-made wall marks from animal marks.
  3. It added tangible data on aspects of Neanderthal behavior beyond everyday tool production.

Images

La Roche-Cotard Mother Bear and Cub
Bernietaylor · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Latest news / selected archive

Dating and trace analyses published in 2023 reported that the intentional wall engravings were more than 57,000 years old and attributed them to Neanderthals.

Record

Culture
Mousterian; Neanderthal
First modern dig
1912
Team / historical
Jean-Claude Marquet and an interdisciplinary research team
Coordinates
47.3369°, 0.4308°

Sources

  1. journals.plos.org
  2. news.cnrs.fr

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