# Traces of fire in a 560,000-year-old occupation soil at Caune de l'Arago: response to the article by Professor Henry de Lumley

Damien Deldicque, Jean-Pierre Pozzi, Christian Perrenoud, Christophe Falgueres, Geoffroy Mahieux, Anne-Sophie Lartigot-Campin, Jean-Noel Rouzaud

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Damien Deldicque, Jean-Pierre Pozzi, Christian Perrenoud, Christophe Falgueres, Geoffroy Mahieux, et al.. Traces of fire in a 560,000-year-old occupation soil at Caune de l'Arago: response to the article by Professor Henry de Lumley. Comptes Rendus. Géoscience, 2022, 354, pp.47-50. 10.5802/crgeos.114 . hal-03566159

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Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Comptes Rendus
Géoscience

Sciences de la Planète

Damien Deldicque, Jean-Pierre Pozzi, Christian Perrenoud, Christophe Falguères, Geoffroy Mahieux, Anne-Sophie Lartigot-Campin and Jean-Noël Rouzaud

Traces of fire in a 560,000-year-old occupation soil at Caune de l'Arago: response to the article by Professor Henry de Lumley

Volume 354 (2022), p. 47-50

<https://doi.org/10.5802/crgeos.114>

© Académie des sciences, Paris and the authors, 2022.
Some rights reserved.

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This article is licensed under the
CREATIVE COMMONS ATTRIBUTION 4.0 INTERNATIONAL LICENSE.
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Our paper Deldicque et al. [2021] presents a new
archaeometric method that reveals traces of heat-
ing associated with charcoal and vitrified charcoal at
the prestigious site of the Caune de l'Arago. This evi-
dence is found in sediments older than 400,000 years
BP where no charcoal has previously been reported.
Guided by a strong magnetic susceptibility signal in
Ensemble I of the Middle Complex, we use Raman
spectrometry and scanning electron microscopy to
characterize charcoals and closely associated mag-
netic minerals in the Q4 level of the cave, where the
age of the sediments is estimated at between 580,000
and 560,000 years BP. The strong magnetic suscep-
tibility signal is due to the presence of maghemite
and magnetite. The charcoals and associated mag-
netic minerals are found precisely at the F/G band
boundary in zone 15, 1040 cm below the zero level
(Figure 1 (a)). According to our observations, some
charcoal fragments are up to 1 mm long ([Deldicque
et al., 2021, Figure 3 and Figure 7]).

We also show that it is possible to produce the
same magnetic minerals and reach the same sus-
ceptibility values by heating cave sediments – which
are a priori unheated – sampled in proximity to the
charcoals and magnetic minerals. The temperatures
required for the formation of such minerals can be
attained in the topmost few centimetres under a
wood fire, at around 500°C Aldeias et al. [2016].

Concerning the interpretation of our results, we
do not claim at any point that the inhabitants of
the Arago Cave knew how to make fire and use it
as they wished; these criteria would need to be met
before we could speak of fire domestication stricto
sensu. We have been extremely cautious and have
carefully considered and studied two hypotheses:
an external origin and an in situ origin. Both possi-
bilities have very interesting implications. An ex situ
origin is compatible with the existence of paleo wild-
fires, which would therefore characterize the paleo-
environments of the first occupants of the Caune de
l'Arago. In the case of in situ origin, the presence of
charcoals provides evidence of an anthropic input
into the cave 560,000 years ago.

The article does not in any way question the
age of fire domestication around 400,000 years ago,
which is currently the consensus. There is increas-
ing evidence for fire domestication in Europe be-
tween 400,000 and 300,000 years ago (Roebroeks and
Villa [2011], Shimelmitz et al. [2014]). Sites showing

evidence of fire use are rare in the first half of the Mid-
dle Pleistocene (between 800,000 and 400,000 years
BP and its anthropogenic origin is systematically de-
bated, with good reason: the traces are often altered
and the association of charcoal, burnt bone and ther-
mally altered lithic objects is not always present.
Such is the case, for example, at Menez-Dregan 1 in
Brittany, France, dated at around 500,000 years BP
(layer 9 - Monnier et al. [2016]) and at the Gesher
Benot Ya'aqov site in Israel (800,000 years BP) (Goren-
Inbar et al. [2004]).

At Caune de l'Arago, questions arise about the
close association of charcoal and magnetic minerals
in the same level. In particular, we need to explain
why these different combustion products are found
together at the same location, 30 m away from the
original entrance. If the charcoal and magnetic min-
erals had been formed from a natural fire outside the
cave, it would be necessary to invoke transport by
wind or run-off water. However, the highly contrasted
densities and surface properties of the charcoal and
mineral phases (chars are hydrophobic, unlike min-
erals) would probably have led to their separation
during transport, which is not what we observe.

To date, no burnt bones have been found asso-
ciated with the charcoal and magnetic minerals.
However, it should be noted that sample CA 1040
is located in the “Terres Noires” (Figure 1(a)), an
organic-rich zone within the cave, whose sediments
have undergone significant geochemical alteration,
notably decarbonation. Volume III of the monograph
on the Caune de l’Arago [de Lumley et al., 2020,
p. 549, paragraph “Palaeontology”], presented in Fig-
ure 1(b), mentions a scarcity of bones and lime-
stone lithic objects, although they are abundant in
the same stratigraphic horizon outside the “Terres
Noires” zone. The continuation of the excavation
would allow to go further on this point.

The discovery of charcoal associated with mag-
netic minerals that can be formed by heating, in a
level estimated to be 560,000 years old, leads to con-
sider and examine some exciting new hypotheses.

For instance, the charcoal could have been
introduced through fissures from a medieval char-
coal kiln. However, it is difficult to prove that the
charcoals from the charcoal kiln are indeed the
same as those found in level Q4. Such a hypothesis
could be tested by identifying the vegetal species, by
dating and by soil micromorphology. Furthermore,
a

<figure><img src="image_3.png" /><figcaption>Figure 456: Localisation des « Terres Noires » sur la coupe stratigraphique longitudinale F/G.</figcaption></figure>

b (Page 549)

PALYNOLOGIE

Deux coupes longitudinales F/G et E/F, en bande 16, ont été échantillonnées pour effectuer une étude palynologique. Peu de spores et de grains de pollen ont été rencontrés et, au regard des critères de validité de l'analyse palynologique, aucun spectre significatif n'a pu être établi. Cette partie du remplissage a alors été considérée comme stérile en pollen.

PALÉONTOLOGIE

Alors que les ossements de grands mammifères sont très abondants dans les sables lités de l'ensemble stratigraphique I, au niveau des grandes unités archéostratigraphiques P et Q, ils peuvent disparaître totalement au niveau des « Terres Noires », alors que les lits de matériel archéologique en roche siliceuse peuvent être bien suivis en passant de l'un à l'autre et qu'aucune limite nette les sépare. Le passage latéral des sables lités jaunes des grandes unités archéostratigraphiques P et Q aux « Terres Noires » est toujours diffus.

Il paraît donc évident que les très nombreux ossements présents dans les grandes unités archéostratigraphiques P et Q ont, à part quelques rares exceptions, été dissous au sein des « Terres Noires » au cours d'une importante évolution géochimique provoquée par l'intrusion dans les dépôts d'un important réseau racinaire (fig. 488 à 490).

Il est possible que de petits vertébrés aient emprunté les cavités racinaires les plus grosses, une fois les racines dégradées, ce qui pourrait expliquer les ossements de microvertébrés recueillis dans les « Terres Noires » (fig. 486) ainsi qu'une petite phalangine de Felis silvestris (fig. 487).

Ces terriers sont certainement très anciens en raison de la présence parmi les rongeurs de *Pliomys lenki*. Néanmoins, certaines faunes de rongeurs, celles des sables lités jaunes et celles des terriers paraissent d'âge un peu différent. Si les deux ensembles se caractérisent par des proportions semblables de *Pliomys lenki*, de *Microtus (Terricola) vaufreyi* et, dans une moindre mesure, de *Microtus agrestis-arvalis* (tableau 64 et fig. 485), la surabondance de *Microtus (Stenocranius) gregalis* dans les sables lités jaunes de l'ensemble stratigraphique I du complexe moyen, comme celle de *Microtus (Iberomys) brecciensis*, plaident pour un âge un peu différent.

**Figure 1.** (a) Location of sample CA 1040 located 1040 cm below the zero level in zone G15, which was misplaced on the figure presented by Henry de Lumley in his comment. (b) Extract from de Lumley et al. [2020], mentioning a scarcity of bones in the "Terres Noires", in which sample CA 1040 is located.

it would be necessary to show how charcoals sometimes 1 mm long could have travelled so far from the surface kiln to reach a depth of more than 10 m. If the charcoal kiln had also produced magnetic min-

erals, it would be necessary to explain how magnetic minerals and charcoals could remain systematically associated together after transport over such a long distance in view of the physicochemical constraints
mentioned above. It should also be noted that these
associations are located only in two levels (RFB and
Q4), whereas they should be present systematically
in the case of inputs from outside the cave or by
migration from the charcoal kiln. Finally, these char-
coals would have contaminated all the overlying sed-
iments of level Q4, which would call into question
all the data already obtained on the distribution of
charcoals in the stratigraphic infilling.

In conclusion, our article clearly demonstrates the
presence of traces of fire (charcoal associated with
magnetic minerals) in the Arago Cave at Tautavel in
sediments dated at more than 400,000 years BP. How-
ever, this result does not allow us to decide between
the two hypotheses of an in situ or ex situ origin. Our
article therefore invites more detailed investigations
with additional observations, experiments and anal-
yses. Further studies, including magnetic, micromor-
phological, anthracological, taphonomic and Raman
analyses, could provide more insight into the origin
of the charcoals and magnetic minerals associated
together in level Q4. A great deal of multidisciplinary
research is in perspective.

References

Aldeias, V., Dibble, H. L., Sandgathe, D., Goldberg, P., and McPherron, S. J. P. (2016). How heat alters underlying deposits and implications for archaeological fire features: A controlled experiment. *J. Archaeol. Sci.*, **67**, 64–79.

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