DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17867559
title: Mesolithic human footprints of Aldène cave (France) - Raw data (Excelsheet and photos)

description: Project Information

This publication is part of the research project 'The Volp Caves: Contextualisation of Palaeolithic Rock Art', funded by the DFG with grant no. 522090020 (project term: 2023-2035). 

Upper Palaeolithic painted caves, primarily in southwestern Europe, have been the subject of extensive interdisciplinary research combining archaeology, art history, and natural sciences (Leroi-Gourhan 1958, 1965; Aujoulat 2004; Lorblanchet 2018). In exceptionally well-preserved contexts, such as certain managed cave sites, rock art is accompanied by archaeological remains and human footprints that have survived in isolation (Lorblanchet 2018). 

To investigate these footprints, the ‘Tracking in Caves’ project was initiated in 2008. Fieldwork was conducted in the caves of Fontanet, Niaux, Pech-Merle, and Tuc d’Audoubert in 2013, and later in Aldène and Tuc d’Audoubert in 2018 (Pastoors et al. 2015; 2021; 2024). The project aimed to advance research on Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic hunter-gatherers through the application of indigenous ichnology, employing expert trackers from southern Africa. Expeditions were carried out by interdisciplinary teams of archaeologists, photographers, and anthropologists to document the epistemological process in detail.In this project, three Ju|'hoan San trackers from Nyae Nyae in Namibia — Tsamkxao /Ai!ae, /Ui G/aq’o and |Ui /Kunta — analysed prehistoric footprints in the Aldène, Pech-Merle, and Tuc d’Audoubert caves. 

Situated in southern France at the centre of the Minervois plateau, Aldène extends over more than 9 km across four hydrogeological levels. On the second, or Cathala level, over 450 footprints have been recorded in five sectors (Galant 2017). The trackers examined these traces between 2–8 October 2018.

This dataset of Aldène cave is to be understood as an interim step of processing and making accessible research results for the interested comunity. The effort was to develop a comprehensive semantic data model for representing the analysis of Mesolithic Footprints in Caves. See also the Zenodo publication of the semantic data and data model. 

Dataset overview

The observations in Aldène cave were captured as detailed research data in an Excel spreadsheet, as well as in photos and video recordings. This dataset includes the following files: 

raw_aldene_data_footprints_inventory_20240701.xlsx This Excel sheet contains the raw research data about the Mesolithic footprints found in the Aldène cave in France. It is collected and captured by the mentioned producers. 

cleaned_aldene_data_footprints_inventory_20240701.xlsx This Excel sheet is a cleaned version of the above raw Excel file. Containig basically the same information, single data is cleaned up for better import results. It is cleaned up by the mentioned data curators Clemens Topf and Laura Albers. 

aldene_images_png_20250603.zip This zipped folder contains photos of single or more footprints and photos of whole sectors with visually highlighted footprints. The rights are hold by Andreas Pastoors. 

Contact

For more information as regards content or photographical material, please contact Prof. Dr. Andreas Pastoors andreas.pastoors@fau.de 

For information regarding the cleaning process of the Excel spreadsheet, please contact the FAU CDI WissKI Team cdi-wisski-support@fau.de 

Literature cited

Aujoulat, N. (2004). Lascaux. La geste, l’espace et le temps. Seuil, Paris.Galant, P. (2017). Cesseras (Hérault) - Grotte d’Aldène. Étude paléoanthropologique des empreintes de pieds humains de la galerie Paul Ambert dans le réseau Cathala, Mission 2017.Leroi-Gourhan, A. (1958). Répartition et groupement des animaux dans l’art pariétal paléolithique. Bulletin de la Société Préhistorique Française 55: 515–528.Leroi-Gourhan, A. (1965). Préhistoire de l’art occidental. Mazenod, Paris.Lorblanchet, M. (2018). Art pariétal. Grottes ornées du Quercy. Éditions du Rouergue,Pastoors, A. & Lenssen-Erz, T. (Eds.). (2021). Reading Prehistoric Human Tracks. Methods and Material. Springer Nature, Cham.Pastoors, A., Lenssen-Erz, T., Ciqae, T., Kxunta, /., Thao, T., Bégouën, R. et al. (2015). Tracking in Caves. Experience based reading of Pleistocene human footprints in French caves. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 25 (3): 551–564.Pastoors, A., Lenssen-Erz, T., Ciqae, T., Kxunta, /., Thao, T., Galant, P. et al. (2024). Reading Mesolithic Human Tracks with a Multi-Method Approach in the Paul Ambert Gallery of Aldène cave (Cathala Level, Hérault, France). Quartär 70: 97–138.