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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The Chair-à-Calvin, also known as La Rochandry or La Papeterie, is a rock shelter located in Mouthiers-sur-Boëme (Charente), in the Gersac valley. This prehistoric site, classified as a historical monument in 1986, houses an exceptional carved frieze dating from the Middle Magdalenian (circa 15,000–14,000 BC), representing horses and bovids. The 8-metre-wide cavity was excavated in 1864 by Alphonse Trémeau de Rochebrune, then by Pierre David in 1927, revealing lithic tools, furniture art objects and traces of homes.

The name Chaire-à-Calvin comes from a local legend that Jean Calvin preached there in 1533–34, although this Protestant occupation was after millennia to the prehistoric period. Subsequent excavations (1960–66) confirmed a continuous human occupation during the Pleniglacial, with archaeological layers rich in animal bones (saïgas, horses, reindeer) and typical tools of Magdalenian, such as burins, sagaies and shell trimmings.

It is distinguished by its 3-metre parietal frieze, unique in Charente, representing a horse mating scene and a bovide. Sedimentary analyses have made it possible to date precisely the occupations, correlating the archaeological layers with the climatic fluctuations of the end of the last glaciation. The site also illustrates the distant exchanges of the era, as evidenced by steatite pearls and sea shells, rare in this region.

Ranked for its scientific importance, the site provides clues about the lives of Magdalenian hunter-gatherers, their art and their adaptation to a glacial environment. The discoveries include laurel leaves (re-used solutrean tools), chas needles, and a Magdalenian necklace, highlighting the cultural complexity of this period. Recent excavations refined the chronology, placing the first occupations around 16,000 BC.

The topography of the site, with its natural exhedron and nine stratigraphic layers, provides rare evidence of the climatic transitions between Pleniglacial and Tardiglaciary. Studies by Denise de Sonneville-Bordes and André Debenath revealed discontinuous occupations marked by cryosols and wind deposits. Today, the site remains a key place to understand parietal art and the lifestyles of the Upper Paleolithic in Aquitaine.

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