The archaeological site Abri de la Madeleine (Magdalene Shelter) is a

rock shelter A rock shelter (also rockhouse, crepuscular cave, bluff shelter, or abri) is a shallow cave-like opening at the base of a bluff or cliff. In contrast to solutional caves ( karst), which are often many miles long, rock shelters are almost al ...

under an overhanging cliff situated near

Tursac Tursac () is a commune in the Dordogne department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. '' Abri de la Madeleine'' is the site of Magdalenian prehistoric finds. Population See also *Communes of the Dordogne department The followin ...

, in the

Dordogne Dordogne ( , or ; ; oc, Dordonha ) is a large rural department in Southwestern France, with its prefecture in Périgueux. Located in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region roughly half-way between the Loire Valley and the Pyrenees, it is named ...

''département'' of the

Aquitaine Aquitaine ( , , ; oc, Aquitània ; eu, Akitania; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Aguiéne''), archaic Guyenne or Guienne ( oc, Guiana), is a historical region of southwestern France and a former administrative region of the country. Since 1 Januar ...

Région of South-Western France. It represents the

type site In archaeology, a type site is the site used to define a particular archaeological culture or other typological unit, which is often named after it. For example, discoveries at La Tène and Hallstatt led scholars to divide the European Iron ...

of the

Magdalenian The Magdalenian cultures (also Madelenian; French: ''Magdalénien'') are later cultures of the Upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic in western Europe. They date from around 17,000 to 12,000 years ago. It is named after the type site of La Madelei ...

culture of the

Upper Paleolithic The Upper Paleolithic (or Upper Palaeolithic) is the third and last subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. Very broadly, it dates to between 50,000 and 12,000 years ago (the beginning of the Holocene), according to some theories coi ...

. The shelter was also occupied during the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

. The medieval castle of Petit Marsac stands on the top of the cliff just above the shelter.

Excavations

Édouard Lartet Édouard Lartet (15 April 180128 January 1871) was a French geologist and paleontologist, and a pioneer of Paleolithic archaeology. Biography Lartet was born near Castelnau-Barbarens, ' of Gers, France, where his family had lived for more than ...

, financed and helped by the Englishman

Henry Christy Henry Christy (26 July 1810 – 4 May 1865) was an English banker and collector, who left his substantial collections to the British Museum. Early life Christy was born at Kingston upon Thames, the second son of William Miller Christy of Woodbi ...

, were the first systematic excavators of the site, starting in 1863, and published their findings in 1875 under the name of the

Age of the Reindeer The Upper Paleolithic (or Upper Palaeolithic) is the third and last subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. Very broadly, it dates to between 50,000 and 12,000 years ago (the beginning of the Holocene), according to some theories coin ...

("L'âge du renne"). Objects that were found at the la Madeleine site are distributed among a number of museums, including the Muséum de Toulouse, the Musee des Antiquites Nationales, St. Germain-en-Laye and the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docume ...

. The '' Bison Licking Insect Bite'', a

20,000 20,000 (twenty thousand) is the natural number that comes after 19,999 and before 20,001. 20,000 is a round number, and is also in the title of Jules Verne's novel ''Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea''. Selected numbers in the range 20001– ...

year old carving (15,000 BP according to the National Museum of Prehistory) of exceptional artistic quality, was excavated at the site. A perforated baton with low relief horse aka. Baton fragment (Palart 310), was excavated at the site. An engraved bone rod from the cave depicts, according to Timothy Taylor (1996), a

lion The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large Felidae, cat of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphi ...

ess licking the opening of either a gigantic

human penis The human penis is an external male intromittent organ that additionally serves as the urinary duct. The main parts are the root (radix); the body (corpus); and the epithelium of the penis including the shaft skin and the foreskin (prepuce) ...

or a

vulva The vulva (plural: vulvas or vulvae; derived from Latin for wrapper or covering) consists of the external female sex organs. The vulva includes the mons pubis (or mons veneris), labia majora, labia minora, clitoris, vestibular bulbs, v ...

Conservation

The Abri de la Madeleine is classified as a '' Monument historique'' since 1956.. In 1979, the Abri de la Madeleine was inscribed on the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. I ...

World Heritage List A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

as part of the '' Prehistoric Sites and Decorated Caves of the Vézère Valley'' because of its unique paleolithic artwork and archeological importance.

Gallery

file:F07_0015.Ma.JPG, file:F07_0020.Ma.JPG, file:F07_0021.Ma.JPG, file:F07_0051.Ma.JPG, File:F07 0038.Ma.JPG, File:F07 0043.Ma.JPG, File:F07 0058.Ma.JPG, File:Burg Petit Marzac.jpg, File:F07 0068.Ma.JPG, File:F07 0065.Ma.JPG, File:F07 0007.Mad.JPG, File:F07 0010.Ma.JPG, File:F07 0019.Ma.JPG,

References

External links

Abri de la Madeleine at The Magalithic Portal.
1863 archaeological discoveries Madeleine Madeleine Monuments historiques of Dordogne Prehistoric Sites and Decorated Caves of the Vézère Valley {{Dordogne-geo-stub

Excavations

Conservation

Gallery

References

Further reading

External links