Trou de l’Abîme

Trou de l’Abîme also known as La caverne de l'Abîme and Couvin Cave is a karst cave with archaeological deposits located on the right bank of the Eau Noire in the centre of Couvin, Belgium, in Namur province. Mousterian artefacts and a Neanderthal molar have been found in various excavations.

Description

The site includes a large two level cave with the entrance to the upper level on the west face of an Eifelian limestone cliff and a large terrace which forms a rock shelter 50m wide and 5m deep.

Archaeology

Excavations of the cave entrance were conducted in 1887 and 1902 but the evidence recovered from these is lost. There is lithic and paleontological material from a 1905 excavation but as these were found in reworked sediments from the earlier excavations the context has been lost.[1]

A series of excavations between 1984 and 1985 uncovered Palaeolithic stone artefacts and Pleistocene fauna. Most of the lithic material is flint which had to be transported to the cave from at least 30 km away.[2] Associated with the material was a partial human molar.[1] At the time it was found scientists were unable to determine whether it was Homo sapiens or neanderthal, but a 2009 study was able to identify it as belonging to a Neanderthal child. The soil above the layer where the tooth was found has an estimated date of 42,000 and 40,000 BP which the authors state "is consistent with both a recently obtained AMS result at 44,500 BP and the published conventional date." The AMS date is of a horse tooth found in the archeological layer.[3]

The 1905 artefacts have been associated with a variety of prehistoric periods; Solutrean, Mousterian, Proto-Solutrean and a transitional period between the Middle and Upper Paleolithic. As of 2016 the assemblage from both the 1905 excavation and the 1980s excavations is considered to be Mousterian.[2][3]

References

  1. 1 2 Stéphane Pirson, Damien Flas, Grégory Abrams, Dominique Bonjean, Mona Court-Picon, Kévin Di Modica, Christelle Draily, Freddy Damblon, Paul Haesaerts, Rebecca Miller, Hélène Rougier, Michel Toussaint, Patrick Semal, "Chronostratigraphic context of the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition: Recent data from Belgium", Quaternary International 259:78-94 · May 2012, pp.78-94
  2. 1 2 Camille Daujeard, Grégory Abrams, Mietje Germonpré, Jeanne-Marie Le Pape, Alicia Wampach, Kevin Di Modica, Marie-Hélène Moncel "Neanderthal and animal karstic occupations from southern Belgium and south-eastern France: Regional or common features?", Quaternary International Available online 27 May 2016, doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2016.02.009.
  3. 1 2 Toussaint M, Olejniczak AJ, El Zaatari S, Cattelain P, Flas D, Letourneux C, Pirson S., "The Neandertal lower right decidous second molar from Trou de l'Abîme at Couvin, Belgium", Journal of Human Evolution, 2010 Jan;58(1):56-67. doi: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2009.09.006.

Further reading

Coordinates: 50°03′01″N 4°29′52″E / 50.0504°N 4.4977°E / 50.0504; 4.4977

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