Gisement du Roc de Marcamps
MonumentHidden Treasure
Gisement du Roc de Marcamps, located in Prignac-et-Marcamps (Gironde), is a historic monument. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- autre
- Location
- Prignac-et-Marcamps, Gironde, Nouvelle-Aquitaine
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 45.0391, -0.5045
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00083685
Nestled in the limestone cliffs of the Gironde, the Roc de Marcamps has been revealing since 1934 the secrets of a human occupation some 15,000 years old, with its Gravettian and Magdalenian remains of exceptional density.
History
In the heart of the Gironde bocage, between the Gironde estuary and the first hills of the Double, the Roc de Marcamps site opens up like a vertiginous window on the prehistory of Western Europe. This major archaeological site, listed as a Historic Monument since 1934, contains one of the richest stratigraphic sequences of the Upper Palaeolithic in Aquitaine, a region that alone accounts for a considerable proportion of the world's rock and chattel heritage. What makes the Roc de Marcamps unique is the superimposition of archaeological layers corresponding to several phases of human occupation, from the Gravettian to the Magdalenian periods, spanning several millennia between around 25,000 and 12,000 BC. Excavations have unearthed a remarkably dense collection of bone and lithic material: carved flint tools, reindeer antler daggers, perforated shell ornaments and fragments of fauna testifying to a hunting economy centred on reindeer, horse and bison. The site is set in a landscape of limestone plateaux and wooded valleys typical of the Gironde interior. The rock shelter, carved into the limestone cliff overlooking a valley, offers a striking setting where geology and archaeology can be read simultaneously in the rock itself. Experienced visitors can still make out in the profile of the rock face the different strata that have yielded their treasures to twentieth-century archaeologists. The scientific interest of the site is enhanced by its regional context: Lascaux, the Cro-Magnon shelters in the Dordogne and the Vézère Valley, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, are all just a few dozen kilometres away. Marcamps is thus part of a network of sites that map out the mental and economic geography of the hunter-gatherers of the Upper Palaeolithic in Aquitaine. A site for prehistory enthusiasts, archaeologists and those curious about the long history of mankind, the Roc de Marcamps is an invitation to meditate on time, in a preserved natural environment that has hardly changed since the last Magdalenian occupants abandoned the shelter at the end of the Ice Age.
Architecture
The Roc de Marcamps belongs to the category of rock shelters, a natural geological formation shaped by the differential erosion of limestone over thousands of years. The Cretaceous-age limestone cliff, which is typical of Gironde geology, is horizontally stratified, which has led to the formation of a protective ledge. This natural shelter, which generally faces south or south-east to benefit from maximum sunlight, is the fundamental structure of the site, comparable to the shelters in the Périgord region of the Vézère valley. The stratigraphic column of the site itself represents a temporal architecture: the different superimposed sedimentary layers, ranging from aeolian silts to ashy and carbonaceous levels, form a legible stack that reflects alternating climatic conditions and phases of human occupation. The total thickness of the archaeological deposits can reach several metres, with each centimetre representing decades or centuries of sedimentation. The limestone walls of the shelter, a favourite surface for Palaeolithic artists throughout Aquitaine, bear traces of past human activity. The local limestone, soft and fine-grained, lent itself easily to engraving and provided an ideal surface for the work of the prehistoric occupants. No human architectural development has altered the natural aspect of the site, making the Roc de Marcamps a site in its original state, where nature and prehistory can be read without mediation.
Related Figures
Édouard Lartet — paléontologue et préhistorien, pionnier des fouilles de sites paléolithiques en Aquitaine dont les travaux ont ouvert la voie aux découvertes girondinesHenri Breuil — abbé et préhistorien, autorité mondiale de l'art paléolithique qui a contribué à l'étude et à la reconnaissance de nombreux sites aquitains dont ceux de la GirondeDenis Peyrony — archéologue périgourdin, directeur du Musée des Eyzies, dont les méthodes stratigraphiques ont influencé les fouilles des gisements contemporains comme MarcampsGaston Malvesin-Fabre — préhistorien bordelais actif dans la première moitié du XXe siècle, spécialiste des sites paléolithiques girondins ayant contribué à l'étude des gisements de la région de MarcampsFrançois Bordes — préhistorien bordelais du XXe siècle, spécialiste de la taille du silex et de la classification des industries lithiques du Paléolithique, dont les travaux éclairent l'interprétation des mobiliers du site
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Gisement du Roc de Marcamps located?
Gisement du Roc de Marcamps is located in Prignac-et-Marcamps, Gironde department, Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, France.
Is Gisement du Roc de Marcamps open to visitors?
Gisement du Roc de Marcamps is currently closed to visitors.