page_title: Abri Pataud
section_title: Site overview
hierarchical_section_title: Abri Pataud / Site overview
caption_attribution_description: English: Archaeologist Hallam Movius
context_page_description: L'Abri Pataud, or the Pataud Shelter in English, is a prehistoric site found in the middle of the village Les Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireuil in Dordogne, Aquitaine, southwestern France. The site includes human remains, stone tools, and early cultural artifacts made during the Upper Paleolithic, between approximately 47,000 and 17,000 years ago.
context_section_description: The stratigraphic sequence at the site includes remains from the Upper Paleolithic, particularly from the Aurignacian (47,000 to 27,000 BP), the Gravettian (32,000 to 22,000 BP), and lastly from the Solutrean (22,000 to 17,000 BP). Remains include human bones, tools, and cave paintings.
  The French government classified the site as an historical monument by decree on 25 June 1930, and additional shelters located nearby under the cliff further protected as of May 9, 1958. The site became the property of the museum of natural history in 1957 at the initiative of Hallam L. Movius, who had directed excavations since 1953. Movius continued to direct investigations  between 1958 and 1964, aided by a team from the museum.
  The results of the excavations were compiled by Harvey M. Bricker, on the basis of American hypotheses regarding the site's origins. A finer reading of the stratigraphy of the site may not have been published; continuing work will help elucidate the evolution of stone tool use at the shelters themselves, and their relationship to other sites in the region.
caption: American archaeologist Hallam L. Movius, who directed early excavations at l'Abri Pataud.
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