Abri Pataud, France

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bri Pataud is located in the village of Les Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireuil in Dordogne, southwestern France, in an area extremely rich in Palaeolithic sites, including painted caves. The rock shelter is formed by frost weathering at the base of a west-southwest-facing cliff just below 76 metres above sea level on the left bank of the river Vézère, a tributary of the Dordogne.

The site was first made known in 1899 and it was systematically excavated by Hallam L. Movius and his team between 1958 and 1964. This fieldwork revealed a total of nine Aurignacian occupation layers, four Gravettian layers, and a single Solutrean layer. This makes Abri Pataud an exceptionally complete Early Upper Palaeolithic sequence. The deposits have yielded rich lithic and organic remains, including human remains from the Final Gravettian occupation. The main archaeological layers are generally separated from each other by archaeologically sterile or nearly sterile deposits.

Recent excavations of the Final Gravettian layer directed by Roland Nespoulet and Laurent Chiotti between 2005 and 2014 and subsequent multidisciplinary analyses have yielded new insights into site formation processes, palaeoenvironment, the human remains, and the lithic and organic technologies. They also confirmed that sediment processes have affected the stratigraphy only to a limited extent. The fieldwork at Abri Pataud has been combined with extensive radiocarbon dating from the start, establishing Pataud as one of the key sequences for the Upper Palaeolithic in Western Europe.

Several members of TraceoLab have been involved in the functional analysis of Gravettian and Aurignacian lithic material, with a focus on hafted tool technology, domestic tool use, and projectile weaponry.

More information on the site

Further reading

• Bricker H.M., 1995 – Le Paléolithique supérieur de l’abri Pataud (Dordogne): les fouilles de H. L. Movius Jr. Paris: Éditions de la Maison des Sciences de l’Homme
• Chiotti L., 2005 – Les industries lithiques aurignaciennes de l’abri Pataud, Dordogne, France. Les fouilles de Hallam L. Movius Jr. Oxford: Archaeopress (BAR International Series, 1392)
• Chiotti L. & Nespoulet R., 2007 – L’apport méthodologique des fouilles de Hallam L. Movius à l’abri Pataud (Les Eyzies-de-Tayac, Dordogne). In: Un siècle de construction du discours scientifique en Préhistoire, actes du 26^e Congrès préhistorique de France (Avignon, 21-25 Septembre 2004). Paris: Société préhistorique française: 185-195
• Chiotti L., Nespoulet R. & Henry-Gambier D., 2015 – Occupations and status of the Abri Pataud (Dordogne, France) during the Final Gravettian. Quaternary International 359: 406-422
• Douka K., Chiotti L., Nespoulet R. & Higham T., 2020 – A refined chronology for the Gravettian sequence of Abri Pataud. Journal of Human Evolution 141: 102730
• Guillermin P., 2011 – La fin du Gravettien dans le sud-ouest de la France : à la recherche de l’identité protomagdalénienne… In: Goutas N., Klaric L., Pesesse D. & Guillermin P. (dir.), A la recherche des identités gravettiennes: actualités, questionnements et perspectives, actes de la table-ronde d’Aix-en-Provence (6-8 octobre 2008). Paris: Société préhistorique française (Mémoires de la Société préhistorique française, 52): 99-109
• Higham T.F.G., Jacobi R., Basell L., Ramsey C.B., Chiotti L. & Nespoulet R., 2011 – Precision dating of the Palaeolithic: a new radiocarbon chronology for the Abri Pataud (France), a key Aurignacian sequence. Journal of Human Evolution 61: 549-563
• Kong-Cho S., 1997 – Étude de l’industrie lithique de la couche 2 dite protomagdalenienne de l’abri Pataud (Les Eyzies, Dorgodne): étude technologique et typologique. PhD thesis, Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle
• Leoz L., 2007 – Les industries lithiques du Gravettien ancien de l’abri Pataud, Les Eyzies-de-Tayac (Dordogne): étude typologique et technologique du niveau 5. PhD thesis, Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle
• Movius H.L.J., 1975 – Excavation of the Abri Pataud, Les Eyzies (Dordogne). Cambridge, Massachusetts: Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University.
• Movius H.L.J., 1977 – Excavation of the Abri Pataud, Les Eyzies (Dordogne): stratigraphy. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University
• Nespoulet R., 1996 – Le Périgordien VI de l’abri Pataud, Les Eyzies-de-Tayac, Dordogne. L’étude technologique et typologique de l’industrie lithique de la couche 3. PhD thesis, Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle
• Nespoulet R., 2008 – Le Gravettien de l’abri Pataud. Bilan et perspectives. In: Le Gravettien: entités régionales d’une paléoculture européenne, actes de la table ronde des Eyzies (juillet 2004). Les Eyzies-de-Tayac: SAMRA (Paléo, 20): 373-380
• Nespoulet R., Chiotti L. & Henry-Gambier D., 2013 – Le Gravettien final de l’abri Pataud (Dordogne, France): fouilles et études 2005-2009. Oxford: Archaeopress (BAR International Series, 2458)
• Pottier C., 2005 – Le Gravettien moyen de l’abri Pataud (Dordogne, France): le niveau 4 et l’éboulis 3/4. Étude technologique et typologique de l’industrie lithique. PhD thesis, Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle
• Taipale N., 2020 – Hafting as a flexible strategy: variability in stone tool use and hafting at three European Upper Palaeolithic sites. PhD thesis, University of Liège, 575 p.
• Taipale N., Chiotti L. & Rots V., 2022 – Why did hunting weapon design change at Abri Pataud? Lithic use-wear data on armature use and hafting around 24,000-22,000 BP. PLoS One 17: e0262185