Abri Peyrony - Excavations


The site was mainly excavated by Denis Peyrony in 1925. He found a rich MTA site which characteristic bifaces situated on two terraces. Unfortantely his publication of the site did not include a plan or a section of the site. After his excavation, the site likely suffered clandestine excavations over the years.

In 1990, Dibble and Lenoir tried to assess whether the site still held in situ deposits. Their efforts produced a small MTA assemblage but did not resolve whether the site merited further work.

In 2009, 2010, and 2012, we conducted more extensive excavations at the site. Our excavations showed that in fact Peyrony had not completely excavated the site, and that in situ deposits remained on both the upper and lower terraces. In several weeks of excavation spread over three seasons, we produced an assemblage of over 8000 artifacts (bones and stones) that is currently under analysis.

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