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Investigating Human Activities in Caves Through the Study of Broken Stalagmite Structures: The Case of the Saint-Marcel Cave (France) During the Early Holocene

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Abstract

The cave of Saint-Marcel is known for its extensive network (64 km of galleries) and its history of human occupation (Middle Palaeolithic and Neolithic) in the entrance area. Close observation of the main network reveals areas with high concentrations of broken speleothems, which are usually attributed to the first tourist visits of the nineteenth century. However, archaeo-geomorphological mapping of the broken speleothems, many of which are lying on the floor and sealed by stalagmite regrowth or crust, indicates intentional organisation of the underground space into speleothem supply zones and zones in which the speleothems were used to build structures. Age estimates of the stalagmite seals on these human-made structures suggest that the structures were a result of human activity that occurred between the end of the Upper Palaeolithic and the European Mesolithic. These age estimates radically change the way we look at the broken speleothems in the cave of Saint-Marcel and the structures associated with them. They bring to light the engagement of past human communities with the deep underground environment, at more than 1.5 km from the cave entrance, which can only be accessed by crossing obstacles (pits) that, today, are considered as difficult to be crossed. Our findings and ongoing research stress the unequivocal archaeological significance of the cave.

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Data Availability

Datasets generated during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the municipality of Saint-Marcel and all the staff working at the cave for their hospitality, for placing their trust in us, and for facilitating our research and that of the Master’s students. The research conducted by Master’s students Juliette Bannay, Elodie Lecornu, France Dubich, Hugo Burnet, Juliette Aronovitz, and Mathilde Bertin laid solid foundations for the work presented in this article. Many thanks to Judicaël Arnaud and the Comité Départemental de Spéléologie (CDS) Ardèche for their careful route marking that preserved the fieldwork that was in progress and, above all, the human-made modifications linked to different generations of cave visitors. Our thanks to the Sciences du Climat et Environnement (LCSE) laboratory and the Panoply platform for paying special attention to the dating of the calcite samples and to the Environnements, Dynamiques et Territoire de la montagne (EDYTEM) laboratory for the laser scanning and coring in the field. Without these contributions, this work would not have been possible.

Funding

The funding obtained was provided by (i) the EDYTEM laboratory (University of Savoie Mont Blanc) for the fieldwork and lasergrammetric and cartographic surveys and (ii) the LSCE laboratory (Panoply platform) for the U/Th isotope analyses.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), EDYTEM, Université Savoie-Mont-Blanc, Le Bourget du Lac, France

    Jean-Jacques Delannoy, Jules Kemper & Stéphane Jaillet

  2. Institut Universitaire de France, Paris, France

    Jean-Jacques Delannoy

  3. LSCE/IPSL, UMR 8212CEA-CNRS-UVSQ, Université Paris-Saclay, Orme des Merisiers, 91191, Gif-sur-Yvette, France

    Edwige Pons-Branchu

  4. Centre d’Étude sur les Ressources Minérales et Laboratoire d’Histoire et d’Archéologie du Subarctique Oriental, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, Saguenay, Canada

    Ségolène Vandevelde

  5. Archéosciences et Sciences du Patrimoine, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Canada

    Ségolène Vandevelde

  6. Laboratoire Des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environnement (LSCE), Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS Et Centre d’Etude Atomique (CEA), Gif-Sur-Yvette, France

    Arnaud Dapoigny

  7. Laboratoire Méditerranéen de Préhistoire Europe Afrique (LAMPEA), Aix Marseille Université et CNRS, Aix-en-Provence, France

    Delphine Dupuy

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  1. Jean-Jacques Delannoy
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Contributions

All the authors participated in conducting the research presented in this article and in the writing of the article. J.-J.D., J.K. and S.J. wrote the body of the article (Sections. 1, 2, 4 and 5) and designed Figures 1-8 and 11-14.

E.P.-B., A.D. and S.V. carried out the U/Th processing and analysis, wrote the second part of the results section (dating) and produced Figs. 9 and 10 as well as Table 2.

D.D. helped with the research at the Saint Marcel cave site. All the authors read and contributed to the final draft of the article.

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Correspondence to Jean-Jacques Delannoy.

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Delannoy, JJ., Kemper, J., Jaillet, S. et al. Investigating Human Activities in Caves Through the Study of Broken Stalagmite Structures: The Case of the Saint-Marcel Cave (France) During the Early Holocene. J Archaeol Method Theory (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-024-09649-6

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