A personal view of the strange horizons of bear, hyena, cro-magnon and neanderthal in the caves of Soyons
Rob Hope (Franc)
I worked over several summer seasons as a museum assistant and bilingual guide in the karstic cavern system of Soyons, in France’s rocky Ardéche region. Here, seven large caves hide a fantastic kaleidoscope of ancient organic reminders from the later shadows of the Pleistocene (Quaternary). Running parallel with these timescales is a human story from the Upper Palaeolithic – and synonymous with all of this are the repeating interstadials and ice ages.
The great beasts of these times wandered chilled landscapes in large herds of giant deer, horse and mammoth, among others. And the caves served as shelter for their predators, such as cave lion, cave bear and hyena, as well as neanderthals and the other humans present at the time, cro-magnon man.
For me, the remains of neanderthals and their distinctive tool relics are the ultimate mystery. Just who were these people… and where did they go?
These hardy individuals shared their lands with a newcomer: the ‘early modern’ humans (cro-magnon), who were finally to replace the neanderthals and their mousterian tool traditions. Indeed, the invading cro-magnons carried with them into the vast and cold territories of Western Europe (France’s Dordogne region, the Rhone Valley and Ardéche) their more streamlined and sophisticated aurignacian flint techniques, as well as, perhaps, the very earliest forms of art.
Within the countless caves of southern France, mousterian (neaderthalian) flints overlie aurignacian. However, the two anthropomorphic horizons mix for a span of maybe 10,000 years or more, indicating that the two human types lived side by side for a huge period of time. Therefore, although the lingering neanderthals were to eventually vanish, they had returned time and time again into the cave shelters, which they had been exploiting for perhaps 100, 000 years.
But what happened when these two differing human forms encountered? Silent intrigue? Exchange and barter? Or violence, death and injury?
These enigmas are rightly within the realms of anthropology and archaeology. But, let’s stay within the paleontological context of these wonderful caves. Follow me, if you will, into the eerie Fox Hole complex of the Soyons system…
With a hefty bunch of keys, I open the wrought iron door and close it as we enter. Going down, not only does the light fade, but the temperature drops as well. To the left, a vertical shaft leads to the Moula Shelter, infamous for neanderthal cannibalistic finds. Straight on, and the Double Borne inner-cave reveals fantastic geological structures, ending in a huge cavity. And, at the furthest end, is a small corridor. A few metres beyond, there is an impenetrable roof-collapse. Is there anything behind this mass of debris?
To the left of the Double Borne/Moula Shelter intersection, we must climb down a precarious, smooth flowstone boulder, before crawling horizontally into a whole new world.
Welcome to the long and narrow Reseau Ursus chamber!
Our torches light the way, as we negotiate an agonizingly tight tunnel. Then, as the chamber widens, we see them – cave bear fossils (Ursus spelaeus) by the hundreds! Most certainly, this is the richest palaeontological vestige I have ever seen.
A huge skeleton of an adult animal lies intact where it fell. Around it, other Palaeolithic reminders are scattered, until now, forgotten. There are mammoth, lion, fox, beaver and deer, as well as hyena bones. Indeed, hyena fossils (including coprolites) abound. But this was an opportunistic shelter for the bears, that is, at least up to the time when the cavern became obsolete, probably due to a rock fall.
Analysis of a small stalactite and various mammal teeth from this cave by researcher and geology teacher at the Lyon CB University, V Gardien, gives a time span ranging from 80,000 to 120,000 years ago. And precise, ancient palaeoclimates have now been conclusively established from these artefacts.
Under the huge crystallized-fossil-crust floor of the Reseau Ursus, what lies? A meticulous challenge remains to be taken on. Are there yet more ancient bones unseen below? Before the cave bears, did the chamber belong to energetic gangs of hyena… or the solitary lion? And what are the chances of finding indications of an even older neanderthal halt?
Today, within the Reseau Ursus, only the superlative exclamations from the odd visiting scientist make any sound. Much has changed since the ice retreated and yet, within this dank, astonishing, seemingly timeless and secretive hideaway, one can, so easily, contemplate and glimpse just how short our own time on this earth has been.