Combe-Capelle man Skull & Ornaments circa 7,600 BC

Combe-Capelle is a

Paleolithic The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic (), also called the Old Stone Age (from Greek: παλαιός ''palaios'', "old" and λίθος ''lithos'', "stone"), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone too ...

and

Epipaleolithic In archaeology, the Epipalaeolithic or Epipaleolithic (sometimes Epi-paleolithic etc.) is a period occurring between the Upper Paleolithic and Neolithic during the Stone Age. Mesolithic also falls between these two periods, and the two are someti ...

site situated in the Couze valley in the Périgord region of

Southern France Southern France, also known as the South of France or colloquially in French language, French as , is a defined geographical area consisting of the regions of France that border the Atlantic Ocean south of the Marais Poitevin,Louis Papy, ''Le midi ...

Henri-Marc Ami Henri-Marc Ami (November 23, 1858 – January 4, 1931) was a French Canadian archaeologist responsible for the initial excavation of Combe-Capelle from the years of 1926 until his death in 1931. In 1899–1901 he was president of the Ottawa F ...

carried out excavations in the area from the late 1920s until his death in 1931. The famous '' Homo sapiens'' fossil from Combe-Capelle, discovered in 1909 was sold to the Museum für Völkerkunde, Berlin, in 1910. It was for a long time considered to be 30,000 years old, an Upper Paleolithic

Cro-Magnon Early European modern humans (EEMH), or Cro-Magnons, were the first early modern humans (''Homo sapiens'') to settle in Europe, migrating from Western Asia, continuously occupying the continent possibly from as early as 56,800 years ago. They ...

man and one of the oldest finds of modern humans in Europe, formerly classified as '' Homo aurignaciensis hauseri''. This was revised in a 2011 study, which dated

collagen Collagen () is the main structural protein in the extracellular matrix found in the body's various connective tissues. As the main component of connective tissue, it is the most abundant protein in mammals, making up from 25% to 35% of the whole ...

from a tooth of the skull in Berlin with accelerator mass spectrometry. The fossil was found to date to the early Holocene (

Mesolithic Europe The Mesolithic (Greek: μέσος, ''mesos'' 'middle' + λίθος, ''lithos'' 'stone') or Middle Stone Age is the Old World archaeological period between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic. The term Epipaleolithic is often used synonymously ...

), at 9,500 years old."7601–7547 cal BC, 95.4%" Almut Hoffmann et al.: The Homo aurignaciensis hauseri from Combe-Capelle - A Mesolithic burial. Journal of Human Evolution 61(2), 2011, S. 211–214 doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2011.03.001.

References

{{Coord, 44, 45, 10, N, 00, 50, 55, E, type:landmark_region:FR_source:dewiki, display=title 1909 archaeological discoveries Archaeological sites in France Mesolithic Homo sapiens fossils Périgord

See also

References