Recent additions, changes and updates to Don's Maps
Palaeolithic / Paleolithic European, Russian and Australian Archaeology / Archeology Sites

The oldest cave paintings in Central Europe, estimated at between 23 000 and 35 000 BP, have been discovered by a team of Romanian speleologists at the Coliboaia Cave, Romania.

Grotte de Bédeilhac has a huge entrance and was a good shelter for Magdalenian hunters. There are two horizons with human remains.
Important finds include clay sculptures, bone polishers, baguettes demi-ronde, perforated horse teeth and many paintings and engravings on the walls.

Grotte de la Mouthe was discovered in 1894, and was excavated by Emile Rivière. It contains more than 200 engravings and paintings of bison, horses, deer, cats, wolves, as well as two hands and a tectiform. The deposits in the cave record its use by Neanderthals and modern humans, based on the tools which were found there.

Grotte de Bernifal is a cave decorated with over 100 engravings and paintings. It includes engravings of horses, bison, mammoths and ibex as well as the enigmatic tectiform (roof shaped) drawings seen in many other caves of the same period. It has changed very little in more than twelve thousand years, and has not been vandalised, since the original entrance was blocked with rubble when the last artists left.
Les Combarelles in the Dordogne, with more than 600 images on its walls, most of them engraved, is considered to be one of the major sanctuaries of Magdalenian culture. This extraordinary site was discovered in 1901. Beyond the entrance of the cave two galleries diverge. The largest one, now open to the public, is a narrow and winding passage, following a zig zag pattern for more than 240 metres. The animals represented are finely engraved. A diverse fauna is represented, including horses, reindeer, ibex, mammoths, rhinoceros, bears, lions and a few bisons and aurochs.
The cave of Mas-d'Azil is a large, 500 metre long tunnel dug by the Arize River through a wall of the Massif Plantaurelin, part of the Ariege Pyrenees. Secondary caves leading off the main tunnel were occupied at various prehistoric and historic times during a period of 20 000 years, and the objects found there gave the name of the cave to a prehistoric culture, the Azilian. It was excavated by Edouard Piette in the 19th century, who interpreted the halter-like marks on animal heads as being evidence of the domestication of reindeer and horses.

La Grotte de la Vache is important for the complete camp of Magdalenian hunters found, and may be seen almost as it was 12 000 to 15 000 years ago. Weapons, tools, typical game and artworks have been recovered from this small but important site. It was the living quarters for the artists at Niaux Cave, just across the Vicdessos Valley.
Niaux Cave, or la Grotte de Niaux is one of the most famous prehistoric caves in Europe. It lies in the northern foothills of the Pyrenees, and is located in Ariège, in the valley of Vicdessos, across the valley from the smaller Grotte de la Vache, in an area rich with prehistoric sites. The huge cave entrance, 55 metres high and 50 metres wide, is at 678 metres above sea level. There are more than two kilometres of galleries, with a hundred or more superb paintings from Magdalenian times, most of which are in the famous 'Salon Noir', 800 metres from the entrance. Many of the paintings are done in the classic style of the Magdalenian, outlined in black or red pigment, mostly haematite or manganese dioxide respectively.

Australian Archeology / Archeology sites
The Grotte du Sorcier, or the Roc Saint-Cirq, is one of the sites classified as a World Heritage site by UNESCO among the prehistoric painted caves in the Vézère valley. It was discovered in late 1951. This site contains prehistoric engravings dating from the Magdalenian. There are engravings of humans, including the famous sorcerer, as well as animals (bison, horses and ibex), and linear signs.
The cave art of Grotte de Gargas constitutes one of the most moving revelations today of the life and thoughts of our prehistoric ancestors. It is made up of two very important elements - painted hands, many mutilated, as well as important animal engravings and paintings.

Castel-Merle, Vallon des Roches

La Gravette, the original site for the Gravettian toolmaking and venus carving culture

The Venus of Abri Pataud, as well as the site of Abri Pataud
Mousterian (Neanderthal) Sites

The Hobbits of Flores, Homo floresiensis

The Cro-Magnon Shelter

Homo erectus (Beijing Man, Peking Man) sites

Peștera cu Oase

Roc-de-Cave

La Madeleine

Laugerie Haute

Laugerie Basse

Dolni Vestonice

Wonderwerk Cave in South Africa - contains stone tools dated to two million years ago, possibly knapped by Homo habilis.

North American sites - When did people first reach North America?

Ötzi the Iceman

Font de Gaume in the French Dordogne

Liujiang - ancient modern human skull

The Homo Erectus site at Dmanisi

Neanderthal Symbolism - this is a translation of an excellent article discussing artefacts from many Neanderthal sites

80 000 to 100 000 years old hominin skull found in China

The Côa Valley in Portugal

Proto Lepenski Vir and Lepenski Vir Ia - a mesolithic site on the Donau

Lepenski Vir Ib-e, II, III - a mesolithic site on the Donau

Kostenki and other sites on the Don River

Zaraysk

Mamontovaya Kurya - Мамонтовой Курьи - Human presence in the European
Arctic nearly 40 000 years ago

Avdeevo

Lucy's baby, Australopithecus afarensis

Location Maps and Themes of Cave Paintings

French and Spanish Caves and Rock Shelters

Grottes et Abris-sous-Roche Français et Espagnols

Pech Merle in South West France

L'Abri des Marseilles

The Dordogne - scene for Book 5, Shelters of Stone. Scenes from the Dordogne, cooking Clan style - preparation of ptarmigan, and using a firestone to make a fire. Photos courtesy Sharon Rogers/walkhound

Prehistory of the Oltenia region of Romania - The Alexis Project. This is an overview of the work in progress by a small but dedicated group of Romanian people interested in preserving the prehistory and history of their region, and increasing knowledge about their area.

The Sungir - Sunghir site near Moscow

The Iron Gates Gorge, a very important series of mesolithic sites on the Danube

Mezhirich

Mezin

Shanidar Cave in Iraq

The Clan Fishing site - Sudak on the Crimean coast

Ice Age Infants - discovered at the Krems-Wachtberg site in Austria on the Danube

The Krems-Wachtberg mammoth site in Austria on the Danube

Neolithic and later sites

Gobustan on the Caspian Sea

Chauvet Cave

Burial Mounds in Denmark

The Lagar Velho Hybrid Child from Portugal
Recent additions, changes and updates to Don's Maps
File last updated: Sunday, 11th Jul 2010 16:34
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Armidale NSW 2350
Australia
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