Walou Cave, Belgium

W

alou Cave is located in the valley of river Magne in southern Belgium, southeast of the present-day city of Liège. Discovered in the 1960s, it was excavated between 1985 and 1990, and again between 1996 and 2004. Walou Cave is one of the best-documented Late Quaternary cave sequences in Belgium, spanning from the late Saalian to the Holocene. Numerous human occupations have been identified, as 25 out of 45 layers delivered archaeological material including osseous and lithic industries as well as a Neandertal tooth. Mammals, gastropods, fish and birds have already been studied, but traces of human exploitation on bird bones have escaped previous attention and are now being analysed by a member of TraceoLab.

Further reading

• Draily C., 2011 – La grotte Walou à Trooz (Belgique): fouilles de 1996 à 2004. Volume 3: L’archéologie. Namur: Service public de Wallonie, Institut du Patrimoine wallon (Études et documents – Archéologie, 22)
• Draily C., Pirson S. & Toussaint M. (dir.), 2011 – La grotte Walou à Trooz (Belgique): fouilles de 1996 à 2004. Volume 2: Les sciences de la vie et les datations. Namur: Service public de Wallonie, Institut du Patrimoine wallon (Études et documents – Archéologie, 21)
• Pirson S., Draily C. & Toussaint M. (dir.) 2011 – La grotte Walou à Trooz (Belgique): fouilles de 1996 à 2004. Volume 1: Les sciences de la terre. Namur: Service public de Wallonie, Institut du Patrimoine wallon (Études et documents – Archéologie, 20)