La Grotte des Fées is a cave located in
Châtelperron, in the French
department of
Allier, in the
Auvergne
Auvergne (; ; oc, label= Occitan, Auvèrnhe or ) is a former administrative region in central France, comprising the four departments of Allier, Puy-de-Dôme, Cantal and Haute-Loire. Since 1 January 2016, it has been part of the new region Au ...
region.
Description
The name refers to three caves, of which one is collapsed.
Location
The caves are located in the commune of Châtelperron, about 1 km north of the town, on the left bank of the Graveron River at 5 or 6 m above stream level.
They belong to the
Massif Central
The (; oc, Massís Central, ; literally ''"Central Massif"'') is a highland region in south-central France, consisting of mountains and plateaus. It covers about 15% of mainland France.
Subject to volcanism that has subsided in the last 10,0 ...
.
History
Two interlinked caves were first discovered around 1840, perhaps in 1848, during the construction of the railway
[The railway line, which followed the Graveron hollow, has disappeared, where a path now runs.] which used to link the mines from
Bert
Bert or BERT may refer to:
Persons, characters, or animals known as Bert
*Bert (name), commonly an abbreviated forename and sometimes a surname
*Bert, a character in the poem "Bert the Wombat" by The Wiggles; from their 1992 album Here Comes a Son ...
to
Dompierre-sur-Besbre
Dompierre-sur-Besbre (, literally ''Dompierre on Besbre'') is a commune in the Allier department in central France.
Le Pal is an animal theme park in the municipality area of Saint-Pourçain-sur-Besbre, close to Dompierre-sur-Besbre.
Populati ...
.
[For the delving research results, see : João Zilhão, Francesco d’Errico, Jean-Guillaume Bordes, Arnaud Lenoble, Jean-Pierre Texier et Jean-Philippe Rigaud, « La Grotte des Fées (Châtelperron, Allier) ou une stratification « Châtelperronien-Aurignacien » illusoire. Histoire des fouilles, stratigraphie et datations », ''Paléo'', 19, 2007, pp. 391-432]
viewable online
The first delving research was led by Albert Poirrier, who carried out the construction of the railway line and who had a keen interest in prehistory. A few years later, between 1867 and 1872, Dr. Guillaume Bailleau undertook new research. A third cave (today collapsed), was discovered in 1867 by Bailleau. Several thousand flint blades and
mammoth
A mammoth is any species of the extinct elephantid genus ''Mammuthus'', one of the many genera that make up the order of trunked mammals called proboscideans. The various species of mammoth were commonly equipped with long, curved tusks an ...
tusks of over long were found. The last research, from 1951 to 1954 and in 1962, was led by Henri Delporte and revealed back blades of flint (named "couteaux de Châtelperron"), burins, drills and scrapers.
Most of the artifacts are today located at the
British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
and at the
Philadelphia Museum. A few pieces are on display at the
Moulins museum and at the
Musée d'Archéologie Nationale at
Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Saint-Germain-en-Laye () is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France in north-central France. It is located in the western suburbs of Paris, from the centre of Paris.
Inhabitants are called ''Saint-Germanois'' or ''Saint-Ge ...
. The display at Châtelperron (Préhistorama, located in the former railway station) has only reproductions for the time being.
It is to the Grotte des Fées that the
Châtelperronian
The Châtelperronian is a proposed industry of the Upper Palaeolithic, the existence of which is debated. It represents both the only Upper Palaeolithic industry made by Neanderthals and the earliest Upper Palaeolithic industry in central and sou ...
era (– B.C.) owes its name. Delving results have also sparked the debated theory of the hypothetical cohabitation between
anatomically modern humans
Early modern human (EMH) or anatomically modern human (AMH) are terms used to distinguish '' Homo sapiens'' (the only extant Hominina species) that are anatomically consistent with the range of phenotypes seen in contemporary humans from exti ...
and
Neanderthal
Neanderthals (, also ''Homo neanderthalensis'' and erroneously ''Homo sapiens neanderthalensis''), also written as Neandertals, are an extinct species or subspecies of archaic humans who lived in Eurasia until about 40,000 years ago. While the ...
s.
The site was registered by the
French Ministry of Culture
The Ministry of Culture (french: Ministère de la Culture) is the ministry of the Government of France in charge of national museums and the . Its goal is to maintain the French identity through the promotion and protection of the arts (visua ...
as a ''
monument historique'' in 1949.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grotte des Fées, La
1848 archaeological discoveries
Fees, grotte des
Landforms of Allier
Archaeological sites in France
Upper Paleolithic sites in Europe