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Orgnac III

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Lat/Long:
44.32, 4.4
Country:
France
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Orgnac III (also called Matte Carlinque) is a French archaeological site located in the Orgnac-l'Aven commune in the Ardèche department in Auvergne, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region.

He is internationally known for having delivered one of the oldest lithic industries in Levallois.

It is part of the Aven d'Orgnac complex, classified as a Grand Site de France in 2004.

It was occupied by Homo heidelbergensis from ~312,000 to ~265,000 years (± 4,000 years ago) BP (from the Late Acheulean to the beginning of the Middle Paleolithic). It is known worldwide as one of the oldest sites to have delivered lithic industry to Levallois cutting.

The cave of the first occupations slowly filled up to become a rock shelter and then an open-air site.

Behaviors for both lithic industry and subsistence have changed over the ages, unrelated to the climate change of the end of the occupation of the place. They concern the supply of raw materials, cutting methods, tools, management of animal biodiversity, carcass treatment, and types of occupation. Most of the deposition accumulated in the Middle Pleistocene during a more or less humid temperate period, and the end of the sequence in a colder and drier climate.