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Limeuil
Wikipedia data hasn't been reviewed for accuracy by the Gignos Research Team
- Lat/Long:
- 44.88, 0.88
- Country:
- France
Limeuil is a prehistoric site in the French departement of Dordogne. It is renowned for nearly 300 engravings dating back to the Magdalenian.
The only archaeological layer encountered was attached to Magdalenian VI on typological and stylistic bases.
A carbon-14 dating published in 1989 gave an age of 11,720 ± 120 years BP for a reindeer antler from the deposit.
The deposit has yielded flint and bone remains, but mostly stone engravings. The flint remains are dominated by chisels (with some "parrot-beak chisels"). Bone tools contain mostly double-row barbed harpoons. Engravings executed on bone or reindeer antlers are characteristic of the Magdalenian period. Art objects include a perforated stick decorated with reindeer and fish. Bison, horses, and a fox are also depicted. The latter is an exceptionally rare theme in Paleolithic art. The site is also made remarkable by one of the earliest figurative representations of the ground line between the ends of the animals' limbs.
The engravings of Limeuil are of a quality comparable to the works of art of the cave of Teyjat and display the same naturalistic style. As in Teyjat, deer and reindeer dominate (50% of the representations), followed by horses (about 30%), aurochs, bison, and ibex.