Sounds of Laughter, Shades of Life

The Bau de l’Aubesier is a multi-layer rock shelter site, with deposits mainly from the later Middle Pleistocene and the Late Pleistocene, very abundant faunal and lithic remains, intense and extensive use of fire in some levels, and hominin remains from Neandertals and their predecessors. This book provides the geographic and geologic context of the site, then describes each layer within the stratigraphy in detail, with emphasis on the hominins, how they used the site, and how they used the surrounding territory. Rigorous analysis is interspersed with stories of the excavations themselves, and abundant figures and tables. The final chapter addresses the ultimate question: what does the Bau de l’Aubesier tell us about the Middle Palaeolithic? Of interest to specialists, students and amateurs, this book unites all available published and previously unpublished data about this important Middle Palaeolithic site in southern France.