Fontéchevade

Fontéchevade Cave
Grotte de Fontéchevade
Fontéchevade cave in France
location in France
Fontéchevade cave in France
Fontéchevade (France)
Alternative name Fontéchevade
Location Charente department, in Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Coordinates 45°40′6.27343″N 0°28′47″E / 45.6684092861°N 0.47972°E / 45.6684092861; 0.47972Coordinates: 45°40′6.27343″N 0°28′47″E / 45.6684092861°N 0.47972°E / 45.6684092861; 0.47972
Type Cave
History
Material limestone Karst
Periods Lower Paleolithic
Associated with Paleo-humans

Fontéchevade is a cave in Charente, France which contains Palaeolithic remains from 200,000 and 120,000 years ago. The fossils consist of two skull fragments. Unlike Neanderthals and Homo sapiens of the time, the frontal skull fragment lacks any development of a browridge. This feature led French paleoanthropologists of the time to propose the “pre-sapiens” theory, in which the line to modern humans was said to have branched off before the appearance of the Neanderthals. Subsequent research has cast doubt on the importance of the Fontéchevade evidence. One of the fossils may be from an immature individual or from a period of time later than its surrounding deposits. The other does not preserve the browridge area, but other aspects of its morphology are similar to those seen in Neanderthals.[1][2]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Human Skull from Fontéchevade, France". Nature. 163: 435. doi:10.1038/163435b0. Retrieved December 30, 2016.
  2. ↑ "Taphonomy and the Concept of Paleolithic Cultures: The Case of the Tayacian from Fontéchevade" (PDF). Eva. Retrieved December 30, 2016.
  • Chase, P.G., Debenath, A., Dibble, H.L. and McPherron, S.P. 2009. The Cave of Fontéchevade: Recent Excavations and their Paleoanthropological Implications. New York: Cambridge University Press.


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