Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Blot Shelter is a prehistoric site under rock located in Cerzat, Haute-Loire (Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes), on the right bank of the Allier. Discovered in 1934-1935 by Auguste Estival, owner of the land, he delivered successive occupations dated from the Upper Paleolithic: recent Gravettien (circa 22,000 years), Protomagdalenian (circa 20,000 years), Badegulien (circa 18,000 years), and recent Magdalenian/terminal (circa 13,000–11,000 years). Stratigraphy and the distribution of remains (houses, block alignments) revealed the existence of cliff-backed huts, showing organized seasonal habitat.

The lithic industry of the site is distinguished by the abundance of dihedral burins, back slats, and retouched blades, with flints from deposits 115 km south-east (Cruas/Rochemaure area, Ardèche). The reindeer dominates among the wildlife remains of the Gravettien, reflecting a subsistence economy based on hunting. The site, classified as Historic Monument in 1989, has been the subject of extensive studies, notably by Bruno Bosselin on the Protomagdalenian, highlighting his links with other major deposits such as the Pataud shelter (Dordogne).

The Blot is part of a dense network of regional prehistoric sites, such as Tatevin (Chantages), Roche-à-Tavernat, or Rond-du-Barry (Polignac), all associated with serious, badegoulian or magdalenian occupations. These sites illustrate a continuous human occupation in and around the Allier Valley, marked by cultural and technological adaptations to the climate change of the late Pleistocene. The property of the deposit, originally state property, was transferred to the commune of Cerzat in 2007.

Recent research, such as that of V. Delvigne (2019), has refined the chronology by reclassifying the local "Ancien Magdalenian" to Baden-Wide, a period of transition between Gravettien and Magdalenien. The objects discovered, including protomagdalenian pendants, and the typological studies (notably by Jacques Virmont and H. Delporte) allowed to specify cultural exchanges and lithic-sized techniques, revealing a relationship with emblematic sites such as Laugerie-Haute (Dordogne).

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