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Prehistoric Gisement à Sers en Charente

Patrimoine classé
Grotte ornée
Abris sous roche
Charente

Prehistoric Gisement

    Route du Roc
    16410 Sers
Roc de Sers  : Tête de bovidé exposée au musée archéologique de Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Gisement préhistorique
Gisement préhistorique
Gisement préhistorique
Gisement préhistorique
Gisement préhistorique
Gisement préhistorique
Gisement préhistorique
Gisement préhistorique
Gisement préhistorique
Gisement préhistorique
Gisement préhistorique
Gisement préhistorique
Gisement préhistorique
Gisement préhistorique
Gisement préhistorique
Gisement préhistorique
Gisement préhistorique
Gisement préhistorique
Gisement préhistorique
Gisement préhistorique
Gisement préhistorique
Gisement préhistorique
Gisement préhistorique
Gisement préhistorique
Gisement préhistorique
Gisement préhistorique
Gisement préhistorique
Gisement préhistorique
Gisement préhistorique
Crédit photo : Jack ma - Sous licence Creative Commons

Timeline

Antiquité
Haut Moyen Âge
Moyen Âge central
Bas Moyen Âge
Renaissance
Temps modernes
Révolution/Empire
XIXe siècle
Époque contemporaine
0
100
1900
2000
vers -20 000 ans (Solutréen final)
Fry carved into 14 blocks
1907-1908
Discovery of the Roc Cave
1923
Discovery of a triple burial
1927
Recapture of excavations by Léon Henri-Martin
20 juillet 1979
Historical monument classification
mai 2015
Public facilities
Aujourd'hui
Aujourd'hui

Heritage classified

Prehistoric analysis (Case C 999): classification by decree of 20 July 1979

Key figures

A. Favraud - Archaeologist Search of the caves East and Roc (1908).
Léon Henri-Martin - Prehistory The caves of the Fontaine (1909) and Roc (1927).
Germaine Henri-Martin - Prehistorian Control search in 1950.
Sophie Tymula - Researcher Stratigraphic correlation of layers (XX century).

Origin and history

Roc-de-Sers is a major archaeological complex located in the commune of Sers, Charente (New Aquitaine), 15 km southeast of Angoulême. This deposit, dug in a limestone cliff of 20 meters high by a tributary of the Scale, consists of four caves: the Fontaine Cave, the Virgo Cave, the Roc Cave and the East Cave. These cavities delivered lithic tools (laurel leaves, scrapers, burins) and reindeer wood objects (needles, drills, sagay reinforcements), reflecting an intense human occupation during the upper Paleolithic period, particularly during the aurignacian, perigordian and solutrean periods.

The most remarkable discovery of the site is a frieze carved into 14 blocks, attributed to the final Solutreen (about -20 000 years), representing horses, ibex, a bison and a rare scene of a human being pursued by a muskox. These blocks, initially attached to a collapsed wall, combine the techniques of raised field and round-bosse. Some kept traces of dye. The original frieze is exhibited at the Musée d'Archéologie nationale de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, while a reproduction is visible on site. The site also delivered engraved plaques, trimming elements (limestone locks, pierced teeth) and a triple burial of Bronze Age (circa 3020 BC), originally confused with a Paleolithic tomb.

The excavations, carried out since the 19th century, intensified in the 20th century under the direction of prehistorians such as A. Favraud, Léon Henri-Martin (from 1909 for the cave of la Fontaine and 1927 for the cave of Roc) and Germaine Henri-Martin (checkout in 1950). Their work has resulted in a detailed stratigraphy: layer 2 is solutrean, layer 3 paleolithic with laurel leaves, and layer 4 corresponds to plant soil. The site, classified as a historic monument in 1979, is now equipped for the public with an interpretive platform and free access. It is notable for having delivered remains of saïga dotillope (Saiga tatarica), a rare species in French prehistoric deposits.

The lithic industry of Périgordien, particularly rich in the cave of Roc, includes cranial tips, double scrapers and decorated reindeer wood tools. The cave of La Fontaine, searched by Thuret and then Léon Henri-Martin, revealed aurignacian tools (gratters, burins, slats). The East Cave, explored by A. Favraud, delivered dotted back tips. These discoveries illustrate the diversity of the material cultures that followed each other on this site, from the Aurignacian to the Solutrean and the Périgordian. The Roc-de-Sers thus offers an exceptional testimony of the life and art of hunter-gatherers of the Upper Paleolithic in Aquitaine.

Future

Since May 2015, it has been designed for the public with platform and interpretation space; He's in free access. A reproduction of the frieze is exposed.

External links