Dating the landscape evolution around the Chauvet-Pont d’Arc cave

The Chauvet cave (UNESCO World Heritage site, France) is located in the Ardèche Gorge, a unique physical and cultural landscape. Its setting within the gorge—overlooking a meander cutoff containing a natural arch called the Pont d’Arc—is also remarkable. Investigating possible associations between s...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific reports 2021-04, Vol.11 (1), p.8944-8944, Article 8944
Main Authors: Genuite, Kim, Delannoy, Jean-Jacques, Bahain, Jean-Jacques, Gresse, Marceau, Jaillet, Stéphane, Philippe, Anne, Pons-Branchu, Edwige, Revil, André, Voinchet, Pierre
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
631/181/27
704/445/215
Archaeology and Prehistory
Electron spin resonance
Environmental Sciences
Geography
Humanities and Social Sciences
multidisciplinary
Paleolithic
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Social Anthropology and ethnology
Uranium
World Heritage Areas
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Summary:The Chauvet cave (UNESCO World Heritage site, France) is located in the Ardèche Gorge, a unique physical and cultural landscape. Its setting within the gorge—overlooking a meander cutoff containing a natural arch called the Pont d’Arc—is also remarkable. Investigating possible associations between sites’ physical and cultural settings, chronologies of human occupation, and access conditions has become a major theme in archeological research. The present study aims to reconstruct the landscape of the Pont d'Arc meander cutoff during the Upper Paleolithic, when humans were present in the Chauvet Cave. We used uranium-series and electron spin resonance analyses to date the formation of the Pont d’Arc natural arch in the Combe d’Arc meander cutoff, near the Chauvet Cave. Results show that the meander became totally cutoff between 108 and 138 ka (95%). Hence, the natural arch formed before the Upper Paleolithic and the first known human presence in the Chauvet Cave, dated to 37 ka cal BP. These results allowed us to reconstruct a key part of the landscape surrounding the Chauvet Cave when it was being used by Upper-Paleolithic societies.
ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/s41598-021-88240-5