Seasons

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While the previous collection of material excavated by Bordes is undoubtedly an important source for new insights into the Middle Paleolithic of France, it was clear that that the full potential of these data could not be realized without limited new work at the site. The purpose of the new excavations was not to collect more lithic or faunal samples – the existing collections were already sufficient in size. There was, however, a very serious need to collect other kinds of samples fundamentally important for modern analyses to enable us to fully understand the situation of the site and the integrity of the collection. Specifically, the goals were:

• - To obtain dates for the sequence.
• - To assess the site formation processes that may have affected the integrity of the existing collections.
• - To assess the current collection in terms of possible recovery bias.
• - To enable full and complete paleontological and zooarchaeological analyses of the faunal collections.