Gisement préhistorique de Pille Bourse
MonumentHidden Treasure
At the borders of the Médoc and the Dordogne, the Pille Bourse deposit reveals traces of a Magdalenian humanity 15,000 years old, inscribed in the very rock of the Gironde.
History
Nestling in the Dordogne valley on the outskirts of Saint-Germain-de-la-Rivière, the prehistoric site of Pille Bourse is one of the most precious testimonies to the Upper Palaeolithic in the Gironde. Listed as a Historic Monument since 1959, this archaeological site is part of an exceptional area: the "cradle of prehistoric humanity" formed by the Vézère-Dordogne-Gironde triangle, one of the densest concentrations of Palaeolithic sites in the world. The site belongs to the Magdalenian culture, a civilisation of hunter-gatherers who, between 17,000 and 12,000 BC, sculpted, engraved and painted with astonishing mastery. At Pille Bourse, bone remains, lithic tools and jewellery bear witness to intense human occupation at a time when the banks of the Dordogne were a major wildlife and human migration corridor. The proximity of the famous Magdalenian burial site at Saint-Germain-de-la-Rivière - which in 1934 yielded a female skeleton decorated with shells and deer teeth - places Pille Bourse in an archaeological environment of unparalleled richness. Visiting the site is aimed primarily at prehistory enthusiasts and amateur archaeologists. While access to the site itself remains limited for conservation reasons, the landscape is striking: the limestone hillsides overlooking the Dordogne plain offer a topography almost identical to that experienced by the Magdalenians, creating a rare form of communion with the most ancient times of mankind. The natural setting of Saint-Germain-de-la-Rivière adds an undeniably bucolic dimension to the experience. The Fronsac vineyards stand alongside limestone cliffs dotted with rock shelters, a reminder that this fertile land has fed mankind uninterruptedly for dozens of millennia. To round off the visit, the Musée d'Aquitaine in Bordeaux holds a number of artefacts from this region, helping to place Pille Bourse in the grand narrative of prehistory in the Gironde.
Architecture
Pille Bourse is not a built structure but a natural site developed by prehistoric man: it takes the form of a rock shelter or an open-air site set against the Campanian limestone hillsides that border the Dordogne valley. These white limestone cliffs, characteristic of the geology of the Libourne region, naturally offer overhangs and crevices ideal for human settlement, sheltered from the prevailing winds and positioned to benefit from the sun's rays. The stratigraphy of the site is in itself a form of temporal architecture: the different superimposed sedimentary layers bear witness to successive occupations spanning several millennia. We can distinguish levels of occupation recognisable by their density in cut flints, charcoal hearths and faunal bones, separated by sterile layers corresponding to periods of abandonment. The richness of these archaeological deposits, protected by the progressive collapse of the limestone vault, has meant that the organic material has been remarkably well preserved. The surrounding landscape plays a key role in the "interpretation" of the site: the alluvial terraces of the Dordogne below, the caves and shelters carved out of the limestone cliff by erosion, and the mixed oak and hazel vegetation create a natural setting similar to that experienced by the Magdalenians. Today, no monumental infrastructure has been built to alter this environment, preserving the authentic topography of the site.
Related Figures
Les Magdaléniens de la vallée de la Dordogne — occupants préhistoriques du site entre 17 000 et 12 000 ans avant notre èreLa « Dame de Saint-Germain-de-la-Rivière » — femme magdalénienne inhumée à proximité vers 15 500 ans BP, dont la sépulture ornée est exposée au Musée d'AquitaineÉdouard Lartet (1801-1871) — paléontologue pionnier qui, le premier, définit la culture magdalénienne dans la région Dordogne-VézèreGabriel de Mortillet (1821-1898) — préhistorien qui systématisa la classification des cultures paléolithiques dont le Magdalénien auquel appartient Pille BourseDenis Peyrony (1869-1954) — archéologue périgourdin dont les travaux sur les gisements magdaléniens du Sud-Ouest ont ouvert la voie aux recherches sur les sites girondins voisins
