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Combe Grenal Tools
Combe Grenal is an archeological site consisting of a collapsed cave and a slope deposit near Domme, Dordogne, France. It dates from ca 175 000 to ca 50 000 BP. The cave was first thoroughly excavated by François Bordes from 1953 to 1965. The site's stratigraphic sequence is 13 metres in depth and has at least 64 layers. 55 layers are Mousterian while the 9 layers near the bottom are Acheulean. The oldest layers date back to the end of the Riss glaciation and the youngest to the Würm glaciation. This is a record of the tools found there by Bordes, and on display at Le Musée National de Préhistoire, Les Eyzies-de-Tayac.
Text above adapted from Wikipedia.
Combe Grenal, layer 59, excavations of F. Bordes.
Age circa 175 000 BP.
■ 2 Racloirs, side scrapers
Photo: Don Hitchcock 2014
Source: Originals, Le Musée National de Préhistoire, Les Eyzies-de-Tayac
Combe Grenal, layer 59, excavations of F. Bordes.
Age circa 175 000 BP.
■ 2 Racloirs, side scrapers
■ 3 Encoches/denticulés, notched/serrated tools
Photo: Don Hitchcock 2014
Source: Originals, Le Musée National de Préhistoire, Les Eyzies-de-Tayac
Combe Grenal, layer 59, excavations of F. Bordes.
Age circa 175 000 BP.
■1 Bifaces, hand axes
■ 3 Encoches/denticulés, notched/serrated tools
■ 4 Tools of the upper Palaeolithic type
■ 5 Special tools
Photo: Don Hitchcock 2014
Source: Originals, Le Musée National de Préhistoire, Les Eyzies-de-Tayac
Bones and other organic remains from Combe Grenal, layer 59, excavations of F. Bordes, and Grotte Vaufrey, layer IV, excavations of J.-Ph. Rigaud
Age circa 175 000 BP.
Photo: Don Hitchcock 2014
Source: Originals, Le Musée National de Préhistoire, Les Eyzies-de-Tayac
Combe Grenal, layer 42/43, excavations of F. Bordes.
Age circa 125 000 BP.
■ 2 Racloirs, side scrapers
■ 3 Encoches/denticulés, notched/serrated tools
Photo: Don Hitchcock 2014
Source: Originals, Le Musée National de Préhistoire, Les Eyzies-de-Tayac
Combe Grenal, layer 42/43, excavations of F. Bordes.
Age circa 125 000 BP.
■ 3 Encoches/denticulés, notched/serrated tools
Photo: Don Hitchcock 2014
Source: Originals, Le Musée National de Préhistoire, Les Eyzies-de-Tayac
Combe Grenal, layer 42/43, excavations of F. Bordes.
Age circa 125 000 BP.
■ 3 Encoches/denticulés, notched/serrated tools
■ 4 Tools of the upper Palaeolithic type
■ 5 Special tools
(Note in particular the oddly shaped notched tool in the centre, with much of the cortex still remaining. It would appear that the toolmaker obtained an unusually formed nodule of flint, and altered it only just enough such that a very useful tool with a ready made handle was produced - Don )
Photo: Don Hitchcock 2014
Source: Originals, Le Musée National de Préhistoire, Les Eyzies-de-Tayac
Bones and other organic remains from Combe Grenal, layer 42/43, excavations of F. Bordes, and Grotte Vaufrey, layer II, excavations of J.-Ph. Rigaud
Age circa 125 000 BP.
Photo: Don Hitchcock 2014
Source: Originals, Le Musée National de Préhistoire, Les Eyzies-de-Tayac
Combe Grenal, layer 35, excavations of F. Bordes.
Age circa 75 000 BP.
■ 3 Encoches/denticulés, notched/serrated tools
■ 4 Tools of the upper Palaeolithic type
■ 5 Special tools
Photo: Don Hitchcock 2014
Source: Originals, Le Musée National de Préhistoire, Les Eyzies-de-Tayac
Combe Grenal, layer 35, excavations of F. Bordes.
Age circa 75 000 BP.
■ 2 Racloirs, side scrapers
Photo: Don Hitchcock 2014
Source: Originals, Le Musée National de Préhistoire, Les Eyzies-de-Tayac
Combe Grenal, layer 35, excavations of F. Bordes.
Age circa 75 000 BP.
■ 2 Racloirs, side scrapers
Photo: Don Hitchcock 2014
Source: Originals, Le Musée National de Préhistoire, Les Eyzies-de-Tayac
Combe Grenal, layer 35, excavations of F. Bordes.
Age circa 75 000 BP.
■1 Bifaces, hand axes
■ 2 Racloirs, side scrapers
■ 3 Encoches/denticulés, notched/serrated tools
■ 4 Tools of the upper Palaeolithic type
■ 5 Special tools
Photo: Don Hitchcock 2014
Source: Originals, Le Musée National de Préhistoire, Les Eyzies-de-Tayac
Bones and other organic remains from Combe Grenal, layer 35, excavations of F. Bordes.
Age circa 75 000 BP.
Photo: Don Hitchcock 2014
Source: Originals, Le Musée National de Préhistoire, Les Eyzies-de-Tayac
Combe Grenal, layer 22, excavations of F. Bordes.
Age circa 70 000 BP.
■ 2 Racloirs, side scrapers
Photo: Don Hitchcock 2014
Source: Originals, Le Musée National de Préhistoire, Les Eyzies-de-Tayac
Combe Grenal, layer 22, excavations of F. Bordes.
Age circa 70 000 BP.
■ 2 Racloirs, side scrapers
Photo: Don Hitchcock 2014
Source: Originals, Le Musée National de Préhistoire, Les Eyzies-de-Tayac
Combe Grenal, layer 22, excavations of F. Bordes.
Age circa 70 000 BP.
■1 Bifaces, hand axes
■ 2 Racloirs, side scrapers
■ 3 Encoches/denticulés, notched/serrated tools
■ 4 Tools of the upper Palaeolithic type
■ 5 Special tools
Photo: Don Hitchcock 2014
Source: Originals, Le Musée National de Préhistoire, Les Eyzies-de-Tayac
Bones and other organic remains from Combe Grenal, layer 22, excavations of F. Bordes.
Age circa 70 000 BP.
Photo: Don Hitchcock 2014
Source: Originals, Le Musée National de Préhistoire, Les Eyzies-de-Tayac
Combe Grenal, layer 17, excavations of F. Bordes.
Age circa 65 000 BP.
■ 2 Racloirs, side scrapers
Photo: Don Hitchcock 2014
Source: Originals, Le Musée National de Préhistoire, Les Eyzies-de-Tayac
Combe Grenal, layer 17, excavations of F. Bordes.
Age circa 65 000 BP.
■ 2 Racloirs, side scrapers
■ 3 Encoches/denticulés, notched/serrated tools
■ 4 Tools of the upper Palaeolithic type
Photo: Don Hitchcock 2014
Source: Originals, Le Musée National de Préhistoire, Les Eyzies-de-Tayac
Combe Grenal, layer 17, excavations of F. Bordes.
Age circa 65 000 BP.
■1 Bifaces, hand axes
■ 3 Encoches/denticulés, notched/serrated tools
■ 4 Tools of the upper Palaeolithic type
■ 5 Special tools
Photo: Don Hitchcock 2014
Source: Originals, Le Musée National de Préhistoire, Les Eyzies-de-Tayac
Bones and other organic remains from Combe Grenal, layer 17, excavations of F. Bordes.
Age circa 65 000 BP.
Photo: Don Hitchcock 2014
Source: Originals, Le Musée National de Préhistoire, Les Eyzies-de-Tayac
Combe Grenal, layer 14, excavations of F. Bordes.
Age circa 65 000 BP.
■ 3 Encoches/denticulés, notched/serrated tools
Photo: Don Hitchcock 2014
Source: Originals, Le Musée National de Préhistoire, Les Eyzies-de-Tayac
Combe Grenal, layer 14, excavations of F. Bordes.
Age circa 60 000 BP.
■ 3 Encoches/denticulés, notched/serrated tools
Photo: Don Hitchcock 2014
Source: Originals, Le Musée National de Préhistoire, Les Eyzies-de-Tayac
Combe Grenal, layer 14, excavations of F. Bordes.
Age circa 60 000 BP.
■1 Bifaces, hand axes
■ 2 Racloirs, side scrapers
■ 3 Encoches/denticulés, notched/serrated tools
■ 4 Tools of the upper Palaeolithic type
■ 5 Special tools
Photo: Don Hitchcock 2014
Source: Originals, Le Musée National de Préhistoire, Les Eyzies-de-Tayac
Bones and other organic remains from Combe Grenal, layer 14, excavations of F. Bordes, as well as those from le Moustier, layer G, excavations of D. Peyrony.
Age circa 60 000 BP.
Photo: Don Hitchcock 2014
Source: Originals, Le Musée National de Préhistoire, Les Eyzies-de-Tayac
References
- Bordes, F., 1955: La stratigraphie de la Grotte de Combe-Grenal, commune de Domme (Dordogne). Note préliminaire Bulletin de la Société préhistorique française, Année 1955, Volume 52, Numéro 7 p. 426 - 429
- Bordes, F., 1972: A Tale of Two Caves, Harper and Row, 1972. p. 426 - 429
- Dibble, H. and Lenoir, M., 1995: The Middle Paleolithic site of Combe-Capelle Bas, University of Pennsylvania Museum Publication, December 1995, ISBN-10: 0924171383 ISBN-13: 978-0924171383
- Garralda, M.D., Vandermeersch, B. , 2000: Les Néandertaliens de la grotte de Combe-Grenal, Paléo, Année 2000, Volume 12, Numéro 1 p. 213 - 259
- Mellars, P., 1996: The Neanderthal Legacy, Princeton University Press, ISBN 0-691-03493-1
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