The Châtelperronian in French Archaeology: the Evidence of Arcy-sur-Cure

Abstract

The Grottes d'Arcy, situated on the main road (RN 6) between Auxerre and Avallon, are the closest big caves to Paris (FIG. I). Between the 16th and the 19th centuries the most distinguished visitors, from Louis XI11 to M. de Buffon (1740), marvelled at the immense galleries adorned with stalactites at the Grande Grotte. The caves still attract many tourists. All nine of the Arcy caves have a generally southerly exposure, and they have been cut into-some of them through-the south flank of a Jurassic limestone massif, or promontory, around which the Cure River flows in a large bow between Saint-MorC and Arcy-sur-Cure. Actually this area is on the border between the southwestern limits of the Seine Basin and the extreme northwestern extension of the granitic massif of the Morvan, where the Cure has its source. This complex of caves lies on the left bank of the Cure just west of RN 6 some 12 km. south of (i.e. upstream from) the confluence of the Yonne and the Cure, at a distance of just over 27 km. south-southwest of Auxerre and about 17 km. north-northwest of Avallon. Here the Cure (the mean elevation of which at this