Traces of material culture

Just like other caves inhabited in the Upper Palaeolothic, traces of material culture were found in Chauvet cave. Around twenty stone tools have been identified from inside the cave, 18 flint objects and a granite pebble (a hammerstone or grinder). These are essentially rough flakes, by-products of laminar cutting and cutting flakes, including a small discoidal core, 2 smoothing flakes and 2 micro-flakes. As far as bone tools are concerned, just one biconical mammoth ivory point measuring 30 cm has been discovered in the Megaloceros Gallery. It lies on well-ventilated sediment, very rich in broken bones and wood charcoal dated to 36,000 years ago.