Aurignacian tools from a fine greenish flint, which is in the Vézère region selectively known from Abri Cellier in the commune of Tursac (Dordogne, France). This site is a rock shelter at the top of the slope of the right bank of the valley of the Vézère, approximately 300 meters from the village of le Moustier.
After Soundings, made by Peyrony and later by Ami during the early 1920ies, Abri Cellier was excavated in 1927, by an American team from the Logan Museum. Unfortunately an excavation report has never been published, and therefore this is another abri in the Dordogne, virtually emptied with only a minimum of contextual information.
The site is famous for its early “art” and features of personal adornment found at the Lower Aurignacian level.
Stratigraphy (after Peyrony and Sonneville Bordes):
Aurignacien I
Aurignacien II
Aurignacien III
Perigordien Va ( Gravettian with Font Robert-Points)
The best pictures about the Cellier-engravings I know:
The paper by the Delucs used at Donsmaps is available on Persee:
http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/galip_0016-4127_1978_num_21_2_1594?
Thank you Wolfgang-This heavy weighted pdf is essential when discussing Aurignacien art
Ihre Webseiten sind absolut super … eine wirklich große Freude für mich.
Grüße von einem Moränenhügel in Werder an der Havel herunter, Ihr Wolfgang Lucht
A CORRECTION is needed regarding the Logan Museum – as it did indeed make a number of publications on the excavations AND the material related to ABRI CELLIER.
I enquired of Dr. Bill Green, an anthropologist on staff at Beloit, and had this response:
We do have the Abri Cellier collections and associated documentation. There have been two publications in the Logan Museum Bulletin series. See http://www.beloit.edu/logan/publications/ and note Collie 1928 and White and Breitborde 1992. You can order these from us if you wish.
There is a recent dissertation on the lithics from the site– you can download it at http://ir.uiowa.edu/etd/1111/ or you can see a preview at http://udini.proquest.com/view/the-effects-of-lithic-raw-material-pqid:2409600581/
Another dissertation is currently being written on the faunal remains from the site. It should be completed in 2013 and will be available through the University of Iowa.
Please let me know if you have additional questions. Thanks again for your interest.
Bill Green
I was always impressed by the internet presentation of the Beloit College of the archeological findings from various sites in S/W-France. More than that, I know that there are publications about the context of the excavations after WWI and about the lithics. Nevertheless the excavation methods at the ABRI CELLIER were insufficient like many other excavations that took place in the Perigord at the same time. This is lamentable since William Pengelly already had developed revolutionary new techniques for the archeological and paleontological excavation of cave deposits more than 50 years before the excavation of the ABRI CELLIER. The documentatin of Pengellys excavations allowed a precise reconstruction of the acheological context during the late 20th century.