La Ferrassie cave is a very large rock shelter in the Les Eyzies region of the Perigord, Dordogne Valley, France. The site contains numerous Upper and Middle Paleolithic occupations, including Mousterian, Chatelperronian, Aurignacian, and Perigoridian.
Neanderthal Life at La Ferrassie
The site has been interpreted as the deliberate burial of eight individuals, two adults and six children, all of whom are Neanderthals, and dated to the Aurignacian, approximately 35,000 years before the present. One skeleton in particular (called La Ferrassie I) is one of the most complete Neanderthal skeletons yet preserved, and it exhibited advanced age (40-55 years).
The skeleton also exhibited some health problems including a systemic infection and osteo-arthritis, considered evidence that this man was taken care of after he could no longer participate in subsistence activities.
The site was excavated in the early decades of the 20th century by Denis Peyrony and Louis Capitan.
Sources
This definition is part of the About.com Guide to the Paleolithic.
Blades, Brooke S. 1999. Aurignacian lithic economy and early modern human mobility: new perspectives from classic sites in the Vézère valley of France. Journal of Human Evolution 37:91–120
Chazan, Michael 2001 Bladelet production in the Aurignacian of La Ferrassie (Dordogne, France). Lithic Technology 26(1):16-28.
Fennell, Karen J. and Erik Trinkhaus. 1997. Bilateral Femoral and Tibial Periostitis in the La Ferrassie 1 Neanderthal. Journal of Archaeological Science 24:985–995
This glossary entry is part of the Dictionary of Archaeology.
