Grotte XVI Project
Dr. Jan F. Simek
The Grotte XVI is a large cave in the Perigord region of southern France. Excavations have been carried out in the cave since 1984 by the University of Tennessee (Jan F. Simek, PI) and the University of Bordeaux (Jean-Philippe Rigaud, PI). UTK undergraduate and graduate students always make up an important part of the international field crews. Deeply stratified deposits have yielded more that 11 archaeological levels, including Magdalenian, Solutrean, Gravettian, Aurignacian, and Mousterian assemblages. Of particular interest are a series of Middle Paleolithic fireplaces, dated to 55000—63000 yrs ago. Excavations have been funded by the French Ministry of Culture, the US National Science Foundation, the National Geographic Society and the L.S.B. Leakey Foundation.