Trou de Chaleux, Trou des Nutons, Trou du Frontal, Belgium

T

hese three cave sites are located close to each other in the valley of the river Lesse (southern Belgium). They were excavated by E. Dupont during the 19th century and yielded evidence of human presence, including Magdalenian occupations. Trou de Chaleux, which was again excavated at the end of the 20th century, has delivered the richest late Magdalenian assemblage in Belgium, including more than 3000 lithic artefacts, bone implements, and figurative art. The mammal species mainly exploited by the Magdalenian inhabitants of Trou de Chaleux was the horse, with fox and muskox being the second best represented species. At Trou de Chaleux, birds were used for food, as raw material for bone working and for symbolic purposes. The exploitation of avian fauna was intense, and species such as the raven and the snowy owl were exploited both for food and for symbolic reasons. Large bird bones were used as raw material to produce artefacts.

Further reading

• Charles R., 1998 – Late Magdalenian chronology and faunal exploitation in the North-Western Ardennes. Oxford: Archaeopress (BAR International Series, 737)
• Germonpré M. & Hämäläinen R., 2007 – Fossil bear bones in the Belgian Upper Paleolithic: the possibility of a proto bear-ceremonialism. Arctic Anthropology 44(2): 1-30
• Germonpré M., Sablin M.V., Stevens R.E., Hedges R.E.M., Hofreiter M., Stiller M. & Després V. R., 2009 – Fossil dogs and wolves from Palaeolithic sites in Belgium, the Ukraine and Russia: osteometry, ancient DNA and stable isotopes. Journal of Archaeological Science 36(2): 473-490
• Goffette Q., Germonpré M., Lefèvre C., Brecko J., Goemaere E. & Rots V., 2020 – Bird bones from Trou de Chaleux and the human exploitation of birds during the late Magdalenian in Belgium. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 29: 102096