Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Placard Cave, located on the left bank of the Tardoire in Vilhonneur (Charente), is a vast 17-metre-long cavity, discovered in the 1868-1880s by Jean Fermond. It was searched by several archaeologists, including Abbés Bourgeois and Delaunay, then Arthur de Maret, who identified Mosterian, Solutrian and Magdalenian levels, as well as Neandertalian and Homo sapiens bones bearing traces of funeral practices.

The excavations revealed a complex stratigraphy, with layers dating from the Mousterian (Medium Paleolithic) to the Magdalenian (Upper Paleolithic). In 1990, solutrene parietal engravings, including representations of animals (horses, ibex, saiga antelope) and symbolic signs, were discovered. These works, dated about 20,000 years, attest to a sophisticated artistic expression.

The cave has delivered a rich archaeological furniture: flint tools (laurel leaf tips, scrapers), bone objects and reindeer wood (sagaies, thrusters, trimmings), and various wildlife remains. Ranked a historic monument in 1989, it is now accessible to the public by reservation, after development financed by the Charente Department.

The discoveries of the Placard played a key role in the scientific debates of the 19th century, including the existence of funeral practices in the Paleolithic. The work of Abbé Henri Breuil, based in part on this site, helped to define the subdivisions of the Upper Paleolithic during the Congress in Geneva in 1912.

Among the remarkable objects are a reindeer palmure engraved with bovids, "placard-like signs" (symbols in accolade) similar to those found in other caves such as Pech Merle or Cosquer, and artifacts in animal hard matter, including sticks sculpted as ritual objects. The cave remains a reference for the study of the Solutrean and Magdalenian in Europe.

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