The Grotte du Lazaret (English: Cave of Le Lazaret) is a cave now in the eastern suburbs of the French town of Nice and now overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. Alternate meanings: Cave (disambiguation) This article is about natural caves; for artificial caves used as dwellings, such as those in north China, see yaodong. ... City motto: Nicæa civitas. ... Satellite image The Mediterranean Sea is a part of the Atlantic Ocean almost completely enclosed by land, on the north by Europe, on the south by Africa, and on the east by Asia. ...

It is famous as being a prehistoric occupation site and the results of archaeological excavations there have been interpreted as representing the construction of shelters by early types of human during the Lower Palaeolithic period. It has also produced more than 20,000 bone fragments from the remains of prehistoric animals. Prehistory (Greek words προ = before and ιστορία = history) is the period of human history prior to the advent of writing (which marks the beginning of recorded history). ... The Lower Paleolithic or Palaeolithic refers to the earliest period of human existence, the first of the three Paleolithic (Stone Age) periods. ...

Part of the skull of a nine-year old child from the cave suggests that either homo heidelbergensis or a proto-Neanderthal group occupied it almost two hundred thousand years ago. Binomial name Homo heidelbergensis Schoetensack, 1908 Homo heidelbergensis (nicknamed Goliath) is an extinct species of the genus Homo and the common ancestor of both Neanderthal man (Homo neanderthalensis) and Cro-Magnon man (Homo sapiens). ... Binomial name Homo neanderthalensis The Neanderthal or Neandertal was a species of Homo (Homo neanderthalensis) that inhabited Europe and parts of western Asia from about 230,000 to 29,000 years ago, during the Middle Palaeolithic period. ...

The possible shelter

Occupation layers of the cave in use during marine isotopic stage 6 (186,000-127,000 years ago) were excavated during the 1970s^[1] and may demonstrate construction abilities and other organisational skills by the inhabitants at the time. Marine isotopic stages (MIS) are alternating warm and cool periods in the Earths palaeoclimate, deduced from oxygen isotope data reflecting temperature curves derived from data from deep sea core samples. ...

Close to the mouth of the cave and along one wall were found Acheulean stone tools along with fragments of animal bone surrounding two circular charcoal concentrations which likely served as hearths. This occupation area measures 11m by 3.5m (36ft by 11ft) and was delimited by the cave wall on three sides and on the fourth by a sinuous line of large stones. It is these which have been interpreted as having served as packing stones that could have been used to support the poles of an animal skin tent pitched against the cave wall. No evidence of the organic tent poles or tent itself would have survived but stone tool flakes and animal bone appear to spill outwards from between the stones at two points which may represent entrances to the conjectured shelter. Acheulean (also spelled Acheulian) is the name of an industry of stone tools used by prehistoric hominines. ... Charcoal is the blackish residue consisting of impure carbon obtained by removing water and other volatile constituents of animal and vegetable substances. ... In common historic and modern usage, a hearth is a brick- or stone-lined fireplace or oven used for cooking and/or heating. ...

Finds of tiny sea shells surrounding the hearths may represent seaweed brought into the cave to serve as bedding. This may indicate specialised activity areas with in the settlement with an inner domestic area and an outer one which would have been covered by the tent but presumably used for another purpose. Seaweed covered rocks in the UK Phycologists consider seaweed to refer any of a large number of marine benthic algae that are multicellular, macrothallic (large-bodied), and thus differentiated from most algae that tend to be microscopic in size (Smith, 1944). ...

It is by no means certain that the stones were brought into the cave and placed by people however and natural processes or a reason for their placement not involving a structure may explain their presence. The limited evidence from nearby sites where similar stone tools and other cultural material have been found close to concentrations of natural rocks is less compelling that at Le Lazaret. Examples of these similar sites include La Baume Bonne and Orgnac. The evidence for housing in the archaeological record prior to the arrival of modern humans 50,000 years ago is slim, although any flimsy structure built prior to this time is unlikely to leave unmistakable archaeological traces after so long.

External link

Laboratoire du Prehistoire du Lazaret - the French academic and government body that studies early prehistory in the region and which is based close to the cave (in French only).

Bibliography

Scarre, C (ed.) (2005). The Human Past, London: Thames and Hudson. ISBN 0500285314.

Footnote

1. ^ De Lumley, 1975, Cultural evolution in France in its palaeoecological setting during the middle Pleistocene, in After the Australopithecines, Butzer, KW and Issac, G Ll. (eds) 745--808. The Hague:Mouton, qtd in Scarre, 2005