- Discovery of major broken concretion architecture more than 1.5 km from the entrance to the Saint Marcel cave (Ardèche)
- A new look at the involvement of past societies in deep cave exploration, obstacle clearance and light management
- The subterranean world, a space invested, developed and charged with the intentions of marking a singular place
Alongside cave art, past societies have explored and developed the underground environment. A study of the alignments of broken concretions in the Saint-Marcel cave (Ardèche), published in the Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, shows that around 8,000 years ago, human groups travelled 1.5 to 2.5 km underground, crossing vertical and aquatic obstacles to move several hundred concretions and assemble them into carefully thought-out structures. While such cultural markers have already been identified in the Bruniquel, La Garma and Chauvet caves, what really catches the eye here is both their remoteness underground and their age at a time when such gestures were unknown. It’s a fresh look at the place of the underground world in recent prehistoric societies.
Research by geomorphologists and archaeologists is increasingly revealing traces left by prehistoric people in the underground landscape. These gestures, sometimes minimal (moving blocks, skulls, etc.), sometimes significant (building structures using blocks or concretions, removing material, etc.), are major witnesses to the way in which past societies appropriated underground spaces. Alongside cave art, these transformations of the underground environment, sometimes far from cave entrances, provide new insights into the commitment of past societies to exploring and marking this unique space on the fringes of their usual territory.
It was with this in mind that a study was carried out of the anthropic structures recently identified in the deep networks of the Saint Marcel cave. This cave, already known for the prehistoric occupation of its entrance porch (Middle and Upper Palaeolithic, then Neolithic), had not been investigated as an archaeological object in its own right. Geomorphological research carried out in recent years has identified, far from the natural entrance (between 1.5 and 3 km), areas with a significant concentration of broken concretions, many of which are organised in the form of circles or alignments that can extend over several dozen metres.
The archaeo-geomorphological mapping of these sectors revealed that these structures were part of a real attempt to structure the underground space, between areas where concretions were supplied and areas of man-made constructions made up of speleothems. In the sectors studied, almost a thousand broken concretions were laid out on the ground. The age of these structures had yet to be determined, and they could be as recent as the 19th century, or as old as the occupation of the porch.
Dating focused on the stalagmitic regrowth that sealed the decapitated concretions and on those lying on the ground. The U/Th ages obtained suggest that the structures were put in place around 8,000 years ago. Although not as old as those studied in the Bruniquel or Chauvet caves, they radically change our knowledge of the distant incursions of Mesolithic societies into caves. The man-made structures in the Saint Marcel cave are located more than 1.5 km from the entrance, requiring people to negotiate obstacles (wells) that are now considered difficult, and to control lighting over a long period of time – the time it took to reach the developed area, as well as the time it took to build these major structures.
The results obtained from the Saint Marcel cave invite us to take a fresh look at these societies, the true architects of the underground world. The developments made to facilitate their underground journeys (walking, disembowelling of water basins, etc.), the different uses made of the caves and the modifications to the deep underground spaces raise questions about the associated symbolic dimensions. The results obtained and the work in progress place the underground world in an indisputably archaeological and anthropological context.
Publication reference
Delannoy, J., Kemper, J., Jaillet, S., Pons-Branchu, E., Vandevelde, S., Dapoigny, A., et Dupuy, D. Investigating Human Activities in Caves Through the Study of Broken Stalagmite Structures : The Case of the Saint-Marcel Cave (France) During the Early Holocene. Journal Of Archaeological Method And Theory, published on 10 April 2024.
CNRS laboratories involved
Environnements, Dynamiques et Territoires de Montagne (EDYTEM – CNRS / Univ. Savoie Mont Blanc)
Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environnement (LSCE – CNRS / CEA / Univ. Versailles St-Quentin)
Laboratoire Méditerranéen de Préhistoire Europe Afrique (LAMPEA – CNRS / Aix-Marseille Univ. / Ministère de la Culture)