This study investigates the representation of cave lions (Panthera [leo] spelaea) in Upper Paleolithic art in France, dated between 40,000 and 12,000 years ago. Using an interdisciplinary approach, we aimed to identify depictions of cave lions among feline figures and assess the level of anatomical accuracy and familiarity prehistoric humans had with this extinct species. Our methodology combined a comprehensive survey of Paleolithic images (including cave art and portable objects), the reconstruction of a life-sized cave lion model, analyses of body proportions, and multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVA). The results reveal that most feline representations correspond closely to the proportions of the cave lion, particularly in terms of head dimensions, which remain consistent across pre-Magdalenian and Magdalenian periods. In contrast, body proportions show temporal variation, suggesting potential evolutionary changes in the species, shifts in artistic representations, cultural transformations in iconography, or stylistic preferences. Our findings highlight both the detailed anatomical knowledge and the complex symbolic and aesthetic choices of Paleolithic artists in their representations of large carnivores.

For many years, only few institutional researchers were interested in the countless engravings located in the sandstone shelters of the southern & Icirc;le-de-France. Discovered as early as the 1860s, especially in the Fontainebleau massif, these rock engravings form one of the largest concentrations of this type known in Europe. In 1975, the foundation of the "Groupe d'& Eacute;tudes de Recherches et de Sauvegarde de l'Art Rupestre" (GERSAR), a local dynamic association of volunteer researchers, has given decisive boost to researches concerning this very rich rock art heritage. During more than twenty years, its prospecting, inventory and study were almost completely carried out by GERSAR, with supervision from the French Ministry of Culture. From the 2010s onwards, the association was finally assisted by professional researchers. In this paper, we will focus in detail on the relationships developed over the last 9 years through a "Projet Collectif de Recherche" (PCR) concerning the alleged Paleolithic and Mesolithic engravings. We'll begin by describing the genesis of this collaborative project. Then, we'll take a very concrete look at the scientific cooperation between professional researchers and volunteers. From the very beginning of our common work, the latter have not only acted as guides and informants: the way in which each of them has introduced the participants into this vast heritage has greatly influenced the study strategies developed by the PCR. These strategies were intensive when the aim was to study in detail a few shelters which were considered to be emblematic, then they were extensive when we were interested in the broader distribution of engraved shelters across the whole region or in a few selected areas. As part of the PCR, some of the volunteer researchers have developed in-depth personal research projects, for instance on the distribution of sandstone quarries of historic age, as their extension constitutes a bias to be estimated before analyzing the spatial distribution of engraved shelters. Finally, we'll note that the PCR has benefited greatly from the pre-existing network of scientific relations forged by the GERSAR, and has since endeavored to develop it, which is the role of such inter-institutional teams. In addition to these research activities, we share a common responsibility for the preservation of these innumerable engravings, which are as fragile as the sandstone on which they are made. The shelters, which are impossible to guard, are highly threatened by the intense tourist frequentation of the forests in which they are found, which increases the risk of various kinds of irreparable deterioration (graffiti, destructive camping fires, abrasion of the walls by repeated visits, etc.). As a result, the collaboration between volunteers and professionals also involves a form of heritage protection, which consists of educating the general public, by all kinds of means, about the precautions to be taken to avoid damaging these fragile remains. For this purpose, PCR and GERSAR have developed partnerships with local institutions such as the "Office National des For & ecirc;ts" (ONF) and the "Parc Naturel R & eacute;gional du G & acirc;tinais fran & ccedil;ais" (PNRGF). Information for the general public is provided through scientific valorization, such as the co-creation of information boards, as well as educational activities for young people, which are partly carried out by another association, Ark & eacute;oM & eacute;dia. This association has already reached 7,500 children, most of whom live close to the engraved shelters, by organizing school workshops and visits to two shelters that can be entered without risk of damage. At the end of this paper, the question arises as to the nature of all this cross-fertilization (do they fall under the definition of "participatory/collaborative sciences" in the full sense of the term?). We'll also consider the perspectives they open up, as well as their limits in a context where discretion is sometimes the best way to protect sites that are obviously impossible to maintain under close surveillance.

Este trabalho que chega ao público brasileiro, feito a muitas mãos, tem o intuito de apresentar e discutir a técnica conhecida como Reflectance Transformation Imaging, ou mais popularmente chamada de RTI. Tendo pouco mais de duas décadas de existência, essa técnica ainda é novidade em muitos circuitos acadêmicos do mundo todo. No Brasil, o trabalho que vimos desenvolvendo no Museu de Arqueologia e Etnologia da Universidade de São Paulo vem abrindo espaço e permitindo que centros acadêmicos do país todo travem contato com essa nova tecnologia de observação e análise de materiais de cunho histórico-arqueológico. Como veremos ao longo deste livro, o RTI é um recurso que expande a capacidade humana natural de visualizar as superfícies dos objetos, permitindo formas de visualizações que não seriam possíveis a olho nu ou mesmo com técnicas fotográficas convencionais. Poderá ser percebido pelos leitores que se trata também de uma técnica simples, não muito cara, fácil de se realizar e que provoca resultados muito significativos. Esta obra é uma espécie de manual para uso e aplicação da técnica de RTI, que apresenta e explica aspectos teórico-conceituais que norteiam a técnica. O RTI provou ser uma ferramenta poderosa e acessível para a análise de objetos históricos e arqueológicos, e sua adoção em mais projetos poderá revelar ainda mais descobertas significativas.

The galleries settlements as well as the selection and the use of the cave walls by the ancient societies are all evidence of the prehistoric groups' choice inside the subterranean landscape. The traces and marks preserved till our dates are the modified or altered product of these actions by geological, biological and human processes on the "raw materials" which are the cave walls. La Mouthe cave (Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireuil, Dordogne France) is a typical example of the whole set of these processes. It's an important archaeological site as it provided the proofs of a prehistoric art in 1902, 7 years after its discovery. It was also the site of methodological innovations to the transition from the 19(th) to the 20(th) century. The morphologic changes of the karstic network and the outside landscape have conditioned the frequentation and influenced the cave walls decoration, since its genesis during Paleocene until the development of the numerous speleothems in several decorated rooms during the Holocene. During Middle Palaeolithic and Neolithic periods, this cave is a well-known passageway which recorded the archaeological traces of the repeated visits and uses of prehistoric societies. Our multidisciplinary research program attempts to explore the various phases of the La Mouthe site history over a long period of time. It considers not only the relationship between this cave and Palaeolithic settlements and artworks, but also the karstic network and historical anthropogenic activities. To this end, this method uses an integrative strategy combining geomorphology, taphonomy and palaeolithic marks analysis by exploiting several crossed-referenced plotting. Thus, we propose an original methodological approach about the wall caves and art and expose the first results obtained by the observation of "la Salle des Taureaux", one of cave rooms where signs of a structured graphic construction have been found inside the underground space.

Les occupations des galeries, la sélection et l'investissement des parois par les sociétés passées sont autant de témoignages des choix réalisés par des groupes préhistoriques au sein du paysage souterrain. Les traces et marques parvenues jusqu'à nous sont le produit de ces actions, modifiées ou altérées par des processus géologiques, biologiques et humains à l'œuvre sur la « matière première » que constitue la grotte. La grotte de la Mouthe (Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireuil, Dordogne, France) présente un exemple caractéristique de l'ensemble de ces processus. Site de référence pour la reconnaissance de l'art préhistorique en 1902, 7 ans après sa découverte, il fut aussi le lieu de nombreuses innovations méthodologiques au carrefour du xixe et du xxe siècle. Depuis sa formation au Paléo-Eocène jusqu'au développement d'un abondant concrétionnement holocène dans plusieurs des salles ornées, les changements morphologiques du réseau karstique et des paysages extérieurs ont conditionné la fréquentation et influencé le décor des parois. Lieu de fréquentations répétées du Paléolithique moyen au Néolithique, elle recèle de nombreux indices du passage et de l'investissement des sociétés préhistoriques. Par une démarche intégrative associant géomorphologie, taphonomie et analyse des tracés paléolithiques au travers de relevés croisés, notre programme de recherche pluridisciplinaire vise à restituer les différentes phases de l'histoire du site sur le temps long. Nous présentons ici l'approche méthodologique originale autour des parois, et les premiers résultats observés au sein de « La Salle des Taureaux », l'une des salles ornées de la grotte de la Mouthe, où apparaissent des indices d'une construction graphique structurée au sein de l'espace souterrain, à travers les altérations géologiques et anthropiques accumulées au fil du temps.

Here we report on Neanderthal engravings on a cave wall at La Roche-Cotard (LRC) in central France, made more than 57±3 thousand years ago. Following human occupation, the cave was completely sealed by cold-period sediments, which prevented access until its discovery in the 19th century and first excavation in the early 20th century. The timing of the closure of the cave is based on 50 optically stimulated luminescence ages derived from sediment collected inside and from around the cave. The anthropogenic origin of the spatially-structured, non-figurative marks found within the cave is confirmed using taphonomic, traceological and experimental evidence. Cave closure occurred significantly before the regional arrival of H. sapiens, and all artefacts from within the cave are typical Mousterian lithics; in Western Europe these are uniquely attributed to H. neanderthalensis. We conclude that the LRC engravings are unambiguous examples of Neanderthal abstract design.

As part of the research program "Archaeology of rock art in Mato Grosso: the Chapada dos Guimaraes National Park (Cuiaba & PRIME;, Brazil)"placed under the coordination of Patrick Paillet and Veronica Wesolowski, an integrated and interdisciplinary approach to the territory still largely unpublished rock art of the Chapada dos Guimaraes, has been undertaken since 2020 by combining strictly archaeological research (surveys, excavations and prospecting inventories), rock art studies (analysis and graphic, photographic and photogrammetric recording of representations) and geological analyzes and, to define and characterize the structure of its ornamented landscapes. Our program is an extension of other projects carried out from 1983 to 2013 under the direction of Agueda Vilhena-Vialou, Denis Vialou and Levy Figuti in the region of the Cidade de Pedra near Rondono & PRIME;polis and at Santa Elina in the Serra das Araras (Jangada). The region of the Chapada dos Guimaraes National Park (PNCG) was the subject of exploration and partial studies between 2017 and 2019 under the direction of Caroline Bachelet within the framework of the program "Prehistory and Paleoenvironments in the Pantanal region (Mato Grosso, Brazil)". The pursuit of archaeological research in the PNCG contributes to better defining the chronology and the dynamics of occupations at local and regional scales, to characterizing chronoculturally the settlements and their variability in the region, extending from the Rio Vermelho in the south to the Rio Cuiaba & PRIME; in the north, and to understand the processes of settlement and/or mobility of past populations along the firm lands and especially the hydrographic systems that border the floodplains of the Pantanal and which constitute the main routes of population movement.C 2023 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Dans le cadre du programme de recherche « Archéologie de l’art rupestre au Mato Grosso : le parc national de la Chapada dos Guimarães (Cuiabá, Brésil) » placé sous la coordination de Patrick Paillet et Veronica Wesolowski, une approche intégrée et interdisciplinaire du territoire rupestre encore largement inédit de la Chapada dos Guimarães, a été entreprise depuis 2020 en associant les recherches proprement archéologiques (sondages, fouilles et prospections-inventaires), les études pariétales (analyse et enregistrement graphiques, photographiques et photogrammétriques des représentations) et les analyses géologiques spécifiques, pour définir et caractériser la structure de ces paysages ornés. Notre programme se situe dans le prolongement d’autres projets d’envergure conduits de 1983 à 2013 sous la direction d’Agueda Vilhena-Vialou, Denis Vialou et Levy Figuti dans la région de la Cité de Pierre (Cidade de Pedra) près de Rondonópolis et à Santa Elina dans la Serra das Araras (Jangada). La région du Parc National de la Chapada dos Guimarães (PNCG) a fait l’objet d’exploration et d’études partielles entre 2017 et 2019 sous la direction de Caroline Bachelet dans le cadre du programme « Préhistoire et Paléoenvironnements dans la région du Pantanal (Mato Grosso, Brésil) ». La poursuite des recherches archéologiques dans le PNCG contribue à mieux définir la chronologie et les dynamiques d’occupations aux échelles locales et régionales, à caractériser chrono-culturellement les peuplements et leur variabilité dans la région, étendue du Rio Vermelho au sud au Rio Cuiabá au nord, et à appréhender les processus de fixation et/ou de mobilité des populations passées le long des terres fermes et surtout des systèmes hydrographiques qui bordent les plaines inondables du Pantanal et qui constituent les principales voies de déplacement des populations.

The rock art assemblage in the Parisian basin is well-known for its extensive number of engraved sites that reflects a long-duration tradition spanning from Upper Paleolithic to modern times. By contrast, only a handful of rock art sites with rock paintings are currently known in the area. In this paper we present the results of the first comprehensive study of one of these rock painting sites, Croc-Marin (Montigny-sur- Loing, Seine-et-Marne) applying state of the art methodologies to reassess their exceptionality in the framework of this prehistoric graphic assemblage. The presence of similar conventions in pictographs and engravings suggest both were part of a common symbolic system. Some of these conventions could be deeply rooted in the last stages of the Upper Palaeolithic that subsequently transformed into the Mesolithic graphic repertoire in the area. This painted rock art site is a key element in understanding the local evolution of the graphic productions since the PleistoceneHolocene transition and during the Mesolithic, not only in the region, but at an European scale, reflecting the changes and transformation in the rock art traditions and the arousal of local particularities progressively becoming more and more different across Europe.

The analysis of paintings and engravings on the walls of Upper Palaeolithic caves generally focuses on the images themselves, their technical or stylistic characteristics, graphical and spatial composition, and, to a lesser extent, radiometric dating. More recent studies of cave art have reinforced new interdisciplinary perspectives that address the archaeology, karstology and geomorphology of the site. This latter aspect helps place the repre-sentations in the long-term geo-morphological history of the cave itself, and thus sheds new light on its human occupation. At the Grotte du Mammouth (Domme, Dordogne, France), we developed an innovative approach to cave art that incorporates a geological and geomorphological analysis of the decorated walls combined with new mapping and digital recording techniques to produce a detailed ?identity card? of the site?s features.

Depuis 2014, une nouvelle etude est engagee dans la grande grotte de Saint-Front, ou grotte du Mammouth, initiee dans le cadre du Projet Collectif de Recherches « Archeologie des sites ornes de Dordogne : cadre conceptuel, potentiels et realite » (Cretin et al. 2014). Transdisciplinaire, elle aborde les documents graphiques en les confrontant aux donnees du materiel archeologique et a celles du contexte geologique et geomorphologique, dont les facteurs sont essentiels pour la comprehension du...

The Ségognole 3 carved shelter in Noisy-sur-Ecole (France) is known for its Palaeolithic-style panel engraved with two horses. They are arranged in file on either side of three slots, initially assumed to be natural, evoking a pelvic triangle. A thorough re-examination revealed the artificial character of the slots as well as numerous anthropogenic interventions to modify the hydrology of the shelter to drain water to the slot representing the vulva.The shelter has two galleries offset in height and separated by a thin wall. The upper gallery passes behind the engraved panel. It encompasses a basin that overhangs the pelvic triangle and often fills with rainwater. This disposition is the key part of the hydraulic system. Two particular interventions were made: (1) the slots at the front of the pelvic panel had been widened by percussion and grooving; and (2) the basin at the rear of the panel had been deepened by percussion, thus opening fractures on its floor. As a result, infiltration of meteoric water into the sandstone was encouraged and directed to the base of the pelvic triangle.An experiment demonstrated that filling the basin with 50 L of water caused the vulvar slot to drain after two days. The Palaeolithic people could potentially have operated the ‘vulvar outflow’ on demand and without weather constraints. It is likely that this setup had symbolic and ritual purposes and formed with the parietal arrangement an integral part of a complex and dynamic installation linked to the feminine sex symbol.

Rock art dating has been one of the major challenges since its discovery and recognition. The methods have evolved through the last century, beginning with the study of superpositions and style until to the application of numeric methods since the 1990s. The aim of this paper is to evaluate and publish an up-to-date database of all of the numerical dates currently available for Iberian prehistoric rock art sites. For this purpose, the manuscript reviews all the methods applied so far to Iberian rock art discussing the limits, the sampling involved, and the problems affecting the results. After that, we present and discuss the most relevant results related to each cultural graphic tradition (Palaeolithic, Levantine, Schematic and Megalithic rock art) assessing their value and limitations. Finally, we reflect on the future of rock art dating: unfortunately most of the motifs are not dateble in numeric terms, meaning we still have to combine traditional with numerical methods; but also, we need to keep working on the problems affecting these methods to be able to create a more reliable chronological framework of use to address other issues such as group mobility, cultural networks, and reutilisation of symbolic elements, to name a few.

Establishing the precise chronological age of prehistoric rock art sites is often difficult, especially with regard to the sites of the Early Upper Paleolithic in Europe. Among 106 sites of this period identified in scientific literature, only 11 have been directly dated with the C14 method. At many caves, there are no means of direct dating of the figures themselves or their contexts. Such was the difficulty analyzing the caves Les Bernoux and Saint-Front (Dordogne). Thus, we used a different methodological process: their thematic and stylistic comparisons with figures from clearly-calibrated sites (caves). In this article, we expose the method we follow, using releve and statistical data, as well as the results we obtain comparing formal attributes of figures with ones from other paleolithic caves.

Publier un site de reference archeologique, comme celui d’Enlene (Montesquieu-Avantes, Ariege) pour le Magdalenien de l’ouest de l’Europe, constitue un double defi : etre a la hauteur des attentes des specialistes mais aussi de celles d’un public plus large, curieux de decouvrir ses collections exceptionnelles. Ce double defi est largement releve par cette monographie dirigee par Robert Begouen, Andreas Pastoors et Jean Clottes, a laquelle a contribue une importante equipe internationale. Sou...