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La Micoque Tools
Racloirs, side scrapers, from La Micoque, Les Eyzies de Tayac, Dordogne.
( These are unusually shaped racloirs, since they have points, mimicking hand axes - Don )
Collection: M. Chauvet
Photo: Don Hitchcock 2015
Source and text: Original, Muséum de Toulouse
Racloir from La Micoque, Les Eyzies de Tayac, Dordogne.
Photo: Don Hitchcock 2015
Source and text: Original, Muséum de Toulouse
Racloir from La Micoque, Les Eyzies de Tayac, Dordogne.
( This racloir has been made for a specialised task, with a series of concave edges, some of quite small radius.
It is labelled as 'niv. inf.' or coming from the lower layer - Don )
Photo: Don Hitchcock 2015
Source and text: Original, Muséum de Toulouse
Biface from La Micoque, Les Eyzies de Tayac, Dordogne.
Photo: Don Hitchcock 2015
Source and text: Original, Muséum de Toulouse
Biface from La Micoque, Les Eyzies de Tayac, Dordogne.
Photo: Don Hitchcock 2015
Source and text: Original, Muséum de Toulouse
La Micoque tools, layer 4, excavations of Denis Peyrony.
Age: circa 325 000 BP from information on the display.
■ 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
La Micoque racloir-grattoir, layer 4, Fig. 9, No 6, excavations of Denis Peyrony.
Drawing / Photo: D. Peyrony (1938) / Don Hitchcock 2014
Source: D. Peyrony (1938) / Original, display at Musée National de Préhistoire, Les Eyzies.
La Micoque tools, layer 4, excavations of Denis Peyrony.
Age: circa 325 000 BP from information on the display.
■ 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
This is the same 'pointe-couteau' or pointed knife from the 'Old Classic Mousterian' that D. Peyrony (1938) describes as Fig. 9, No 2 from Couche 4 in his 1938 work.
The photograph is taken from a view which rotates the tool anti-clockwise on its vertical (y) axis compared with the drawing. I rotated my image on its horizontal (z) axis to conform as closely as possible to the drawing's orientation. There is no significant rotation on the third (x) axis of rotation between the two views.
Drawing / Photo: D. Peyrony (1938) / Don Hitchcock 2008
Source: D. Peyrony (1938) / Original, display at Musée National de Préhistoire, Les Eyzies.
A better version of the pointed knife above.
Photo: Don Hitchcock 2014
Source: Original, Le Musée National de Préhistoire, Les Eyzies-de-Tayac
La Micoque tools, layer 4, excavations of Denis Peyrony.
Age: circa 325 000 BP from information on the display.
■ 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
La Micoque tools, layer 3, excavations of Denis Peyrony.
Age: circa 375 000 BP from information on the display.
■ 2 Racloirs, side scrapers
Photo: Don Hitchcock 2014
Source: Originals, Le Musée National de Préhistoire, Les Eyzies-de-Tayac
La Micoque tools, layer 3, excavations of Denis Peyrony.
Age: circa 375 000 BP from information on the display.
■ 3 Encoches/denticulés, notched/serrated tools
Photo: Don Hitchcock 2014
Source: Originals, Le Musée National de Préhistoire, Les Eyzies-de-Tayac
La Micoque tools, layer 3, excavations of Denis Peyrony.
Age: circa 375 000 BP from information on the display.
■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
La Micoque bones, layer 3, excavations of Denis Peyrony.
Age: circa 375 000 BP from information on the display.
Photo: Don Hitchcock 2014
Source: Originals, Le Musée National de Préhistoire, Les Eyzies-de-Tayac
La Micoque specimens from layer 2, excavations of Denis Peyrony.
Age: circa 425 000 BP from information on the display in the main hall.
Fluck (2011) says about these specimens:
'Note the poor condition of the artefacts. There are a high number of broken flakes in all the assemblages, with Level 2 having the most with over sixty percent of flakes from this assemblage broken. All of the flakes observed were consistent with hard hammer percussion, although given the poor condition of the artefacts this was difficult to confirm.
For the most part the butts were plain and unprepared. Flakes from most of the knapping sequence were present although there were very few entirely cortical flakes (Toth type 1) from any of the assemblages
Level 2 has a much larger assemblage than level 1, although the majority of these flakes were broken (62.8%). There are very few flakes from the level 2 assemblage with cortical butts (types 1-3) and the majority have some cortex on the dorsal. The pattern seems to be consistent with that observed for in-situ knapping, although there are slightly fewer flakes from earlier in the sequence than might be expected, indicating that the cores may have been worked slightly before they were brought to the site. It is also important to remember that the Level 2 material has been reworked considerably and is in a secondary context, making it more difficult to infer in situ activity.'
Photo and text: Fluck (2011)
Source: Originals, Le Musée National de Préhistoire, Les Eyzies-de-Tayac
La Micoque bones, layer 2, excavations of Denis Peyrony.
Age: circa 425 000 BP from information on the display.
Photo: Don Hitchcock 2014
Source: Originals, Le Musée National de Préhistoire, Les Eyzies-de-Tayac
La Micoque Layer 1.
Age: circa 475 000 BP from information on the display.
Note, however, that Fluck (2011) states that the lower levels of La Micoque are believed to date from circa 350 000 BP, corresponding to MIS9. This date is in conflict with the dates for levels 2 and 3 given on the displays at Le Musée National de Préhistoire, Les Eyzies-de-Tayac.
Photo: Don Hitchcock 2014
Source: Originals, Le Musée National de Préhistoire, Les Eyzies-de-Tayac
La Micoque tool, apparently a core, layer 1, excavations of Denis Peyrony.
It is the specimen at the bottom right of the photograph above.
Photo: Don Hitchcock 2014
Source: Original, Le Musée National de Préhistoire, Les Eyzies-de-Tayac
La Micoque core, layer 1, excavations of Denis Peyrony.
This is the same Tayacien core or nucleus that D. Peyrony describes as Fig. 2, No 3 from Couche 1 in Peyrony (1938)
It is the specimen at the centre left of the photograph above.
Photo: Don Hitchcock 2014
Source: Original, Le Musée National de Préhistoire, Les Eyzies-de-Tayac
La Micoque tool, apparently a core, layer 1, excavations of Denis Peyrony.
It is the specimen at the centre right of the photograph above.
Photo: Don Hitchcock 2014
Source: Original, Le Musée National de Préhistoire, Les Eyzies-de-Tayac
La Micoque tool, apparently a core, layer 1, excavations of Denis Peyrony.
It is the specimen at the top right of the photograph above.
Photo: Don Hitchcock 2014
Source: Original, Le Musée National de Préhistoire, Les Eyzies-de-Tayac
La Micoque tool, apparently a core, layer 1, excavations of Denis Peyrony.
It is the specimen at the top left of the photograph above.
Photo: Don Hitchcock 2014
Source: Original, Le Musée National de Préhistoire, Les Eyzies-de-Tayac
Lithic industry of the first archaeological layer, layer A, Tayacian core, excavations of Denis Peyrony.
Photo: Peyrony (1938)
La Micoque tool, apparently a core, layer 1, excavations of Denis Peyrony.
This appears to be the original of the core depicted immediately above, viewed from the opposite side to view 1b.
As always, it is a shame not to be able to pick up the specimen and photograph it from every angle!
It is the specimen at the bottom left of the photograph above.
Photo: Don Hitchcock 2014
Source: Original, Le Musée National de Préhistoire, Les Eyzies-de-Tayac
La Micoque tools, from layer 1, excavations of Denis Peyrony.
This is a very valuable photo to have of the extra artefacts from layer 1, bringing to 15 the total known extant specimens from this layer, all shown on this page.
The others appear to have been dispersed or lost.
Photo: Fluck (2011)
Source: Originals, Le Musée National de Préhistoire, Les Eyzies-de-Tayac
Bones/fauna found, and climatic conditions for Layer 1.
Age: circa 475 000 BP
Photo: Don Hitchcock 2014
Source: Original, Le Musée National de Préhistoire, Les Eyzies-de-Tayac
References
- Fluck H., 2011: Non-Biface Assemblages in Middle Pleistocene Western Europe. A comparative study, University of Southampton Faculty of Law, Art and Social Sciences School of Humanities, Thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy May 2011 p. 257 - 283
- Peyrony D., 1938: La Micoque. Les Fouilles récentes. - Leur signification, Bulletin de la Société préhistorique française, Année 1938, Volume 35, Numéro 6 p. 257 - 283
- Schwarcz, H., Grün R., 1988: ESR dating of level L 2/3 at La Micoque (Dordogne), France: Excavations of Debénath and Rigaud, Geoarchaeology Volume 3 Issue 4, Pages 293 - 296
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