Glossary

From the eponymous Aurignac site in Haute-Garonne. First Upper Palaeolithic culture, known to stretch from the Russian plain to the Iberian peninsula, attributed to modern man. This culture was characterised by the cutting of blades, the creation of industries using hard animal materials (bone, ivory, wood), the development of jewellery and the appearance of durable, figurative art.

A transitional culture between the Mousterian and Aurignacian periods, attributed to the last Neanderthals and contemporary with the first modern humans in Western Europe.

A type of crow found in the high mountains, black with a yellow beak and red legs.

A tool generally of considerable size, usually made on a fragment, and characterised by the presence of a sharp transverse cutting edge.

Precipitated mineral deposits. In caves, they are most often made up of calcium carbonate transported as a solution in infiltrating water.

Fractures in a rock mass. Unlike faults, they are not necessarily accompanied by displacement of the rock.

First subdivision of the Palaeolithic period, beginning with the first man-made tools around 2.5 million years ago and ending with the appearance and development of new stone-cutting methods around 200–300,000 years ago. This period brings together the cultures of Homo habilis and Homo erectus. 

Protozoan (unicellular living being) covered with a chitinous or calcareous test pierced with holes through which it emits pseudopods (retractile protoplasmic extensions).

A flint point with a straight back fashioned on a slender blade by direct or crossed retouching (Gravette point).

A pan-European culture, also known as the Upper Perigordian, characterised by a strong diversification of stone tools, the development of female and animal statuary and the geometrisation of decorative jewellery.

The most recent chronological and geological subdivision of the Quaternary following the Pleistocene, based on the warming of the climate during the current interglacial, which occurred around 11,800 years before present.

A cold period during which a large part of the continent was covered in ice.

Pertaining to the dissolution of limestone by water.

From the eponymous site of La Madeleine in the Dordogne. The final Upper Palaeolithic culture in Atlantic Europe, subdivided into several phases and characterised by a major diversification of lithic and bone tools, a veritable explosion of symbolic manifestations and a strong cultural regionalisation.

A geological era stretching from 250 million to 65 million years ago (formerly known as the "secondary era").

Second subdivision of the Palaeolithic, marked by the appearance of new cutting techniques and a diversification of stone industries around 300,000 years ago. It ended around 40,000 years ago with the arrival of the first modern humans. During this period, the cultures of Homo erectus, Homo sapiens and Neandertal regionalised and their evolution appears to have been faster and shorter.

Geological period extending from 780,000 to 130,000 years ago.

Name of the cave in Germany where a fossil skeleton was found in 1856. Neanderthals are fossils from the Middle East and Europe, dated to between 80,000 and 30,000 years ago, which are considered sapiens, but are less advanced than sapiens sapiens. Neanderthal burials have been discovered. Their stone industries are elaborate: they are grouped under the name Mousterian.

Cultural period succeeding the Mesolithic and ending with the Copper Age. The Neolithic is characterised by a new state of society, with the birth of agriculture and livestock farming, and by an evolution in beliefs leading to megalithism (dolmens, menhirs, cromlechs, etc.).

Early Upper Palaeolithic industrial facies, contemporary with the Aurignacian. The early phase of this period is known as the Châtelperronian and seems to derive from certain Mousterian tools, while the Upper Perigordian, which developed from 26,000 years ago onwards, is known as the Gravettian.

A medium-sized bird whose tarsus (third ray of the foot) and toes are covered in feathers.

Elevation of one point in relation to another. Here: altitude of the cave in relation to the valley floor.

Nocturnal bird of prey.

From the eponymous Solutré site in Saône-et-Loire. Its range is limited to the Iberian Peninsula and France, south of the Paris Basin and west of the Rhône. Extremely thin, sharp flint weapons were characteristic of the Solutrean period, as was outdoor sculpture on walls and boulders.

Layers of calcite deposited on the floor of caves by the precipitation of calcium carbonate dissolved in water.

Transitional climatic period between an ice age and an interglacial. This term is traditionally used to designate the end of the last ice age (Würm) between 18,000 and 10,000 years before present, which was characterised by numerous climatic variations.

Refers to mammals whose feet end in fleshy tips (hooves or claws).

Third subdivision of the Palaeolithic period, beginning around 40,000 years ago with the arrival of the first modern humans (Homo sapiens sapiens) and ending around 10–11,000 years ago at the end of the last ice age. This period, divided into several cultures, saw the development of new technologies, new tools and new weapons, and the emergence of art and jewellery (the first elaborate social systems of depiction and communication).