Orgnac 3 is a Middle Paleolithic cave and open air site located in the Rhone Valley of France, near the Ardeche river gorges. There are at least ten early archaic Homo sapiens and Neanderthal occupations in the cave (which slowly filled over time). Electron spin resonance (ESR) and Uranium-thorium (U/Th) dates on levels 5 and 6 are associated with Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 9, or about 374,000-300,000 years ago; Level 2 is dated to MIS 8, ca 300,000 years ago. Level 1, at the top of the cave deposits, includes a prominent Levallois component.
The human occupations are characterized by a number of different animal species, hearths, and stone tools. For paleontologists, Orgnac 3 contains additional levels representing another 100,000 years with extinct micro and macro fauna, giving a clear evolutionary sequence and evidence for environmental change.
Levallois at Orgnac 3
Level 1 (correlated with MIS-8) and likely dated ~300,000 years ago, is the most recent occupation. At this time, the cave had filled in and the site was essentially open-air, with a small south-facing rock shelter protecting its occupants from dominant winds. Humans (Neanderthals) at the site predominantly hunted horse and bovids, and used Levallois tools made from locally-available flints.
This analysis of the Levallois technique at MIS 8 makes Orgnac 3 one of the oldest examples of the Levallois technique in Europe.
Archaeology at Orgnac 3
The site was excavated between 1959 and 1973 by Jean Combier, and more recently by Marie-Helene Moncel and Anne Marie Moigne.
Source
This glossary entry is a part of the About.com guide to Neanderthals and guide to the Middle Paleolithic, and the Dictionary of Archaeology.
Moncel M-H, Moigne A-M, and Combier J. 2005. Pre-Neandertal behaviour during isotopic stage 9 and the beginning of stage 8. New data concerning fauna and lithics in the different occupation levels of orgnac 3 (Ardèche, South-East France): occupation types. Journal of Archaeological Science 32(9):1283-1301.
Moncel M-H, Moigne A-M, Sam Y, and Combier J. 2011. The Emergence of Neanderthal Technical Behavior: New Evidence from Orgnac 3 (Level 1, MIS 8), Southeastern France. Current Anthropology 52(1):37-75.
