Description
Book SynopsisThe prehistoric site of Le Placard, located in Southwest France, was discovered and first explored 150 years ago at a time when prehistory was just emerging as a scientific discipline. Through this century and a half of explorations this site has been involved in numerous debates of prehistoric research; it has also yielded an extraordinary amount and diverse range of archaeological materials (i.e. lithics, fauna, osseous industry, body adornments, pigments, human remains, mobiliary and parietal art, hearths, etc.). Yet this site appears now poorly valued due to the devastating 19th-century excavation techniques that almost completely emptied the cavity. Subsequently it is surprisingly ill-known. This 150-year milestone gives us an opportunity to look back at this exceptional site and its associated materials in order to demonstrate that it still holds a unique potential in the debates about these Late Pleistocene hunting and gathering societies. The various chapters cover multiple aspects of the history of research and of the collections, present detailed studies on the material culture (osseous industry, spearthrowers, musical instruments), and address specific issues related to parietal art, social networks and the political nature of these prehistoric communities. The best hypothesis and explanation to account for this exceptional diversity of remains would argue that Le Placard has been a village occupied by various groups of complex (transegalitarian) hunter-gatherers.
Trade ReviewThis volume constitutes an unexpected, original and often extremely interesting introduction to the publication of the latest excavations, that we hope will come out soon. -
Sylvain Ducasse (2020): Bulletin de la Société préhistorique françaiseTable of Contents‘FOREWORD’ (François Bonneau) ;
‘FOREWORD’ (Jean-François Tournepiche) ;
‘PREFACE; INTRODUCING LE PLACARD’ (Christophe DELAGE) ;
‘ARTHUR DE MARET AND HIS EXCAVATIONS OF THE CAVE OF LE PLACARD (1877-1888): A NEGLECTED MOMENT IN THE PREHISTORY OF THE CHARENTE’ (Christophe DELAGE) ;
‘ADRIEN DE MORTILLET, THE AURIGNACIAN AND THE ARTHUR DE MARET COLLECTION (Philippe ROUX) [Open Access: Download] ;
‘BREUIL, LE PLACARD AND THE MAGDALENIAN’ (Christophe DELAGE) ;
‘THE COLLECTIONS OF THE LE PLACARD CAVE (VILHONNEUR, CHARENTE) AT THE MUSÉE D’ARCHÉOLOGIE NATIONALE IN SAINT-GERMAIN-EN-LAYE’ (Catherine SCHWAB) ;
‘A SENSITIVE APPROACH TO THE CAVE OF LE PLACARD’ (Anne-Paule MOUSNIER (Translation Jean Bonnin)) ;
‘THE LE PLACARD NATURAL SURROUNDINGS AND LE PLACARD 2, THE LOWER KARSTIC NETWORK (Pierre VAUVILLIER, Bruno DELAGE and Christophe DELAGE) ;
‘REVISITING THE LE PLACARD RADIOMETRIC CHRONOLOGY’ (Christophe DELAGE) ;
‘NEW ANTLER, SHELL, AND TOOTH TECHNOLOGY FROM LA GROTTE DU PLACARD (COMMUNE DE VILHONNEUR, CHARENTE)’ (Michelle C. LANGLEY and Christophe DELAGE) ;
‘CALLING FOR THE DEER. AN EUNUCH FLUTE AT LE PLACARD?’ (Carlos GARCÍA-BENITO, Carlos MAZO PÉREZ & Marta ALCOLEA GRACIA) ; ‘THE LE PLACARD SPEARTHROWERS’ (Pierre CATTELAIN);
‘THE MAGDALENIAN ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL CONTEXTS OF LE PLACARD’ (Claudine GRAVEL-MIGUEL) ;
‘ART DURING THE LAST GLACIAL MAXIMUM IN WESTERN EUROPE’ (François DJINDJIAN) ;
‘WAS LE PLACARD USED BY SECRET SOCIETIES?’ (Brian HAYDEN) ;
