Gisement préhistorique du Martinet

About

The Martinet shelter is a rock shelter and a prehistoric site of the Mesolithic region located in Sauveterre-la-Lémance, Lot-et-Garonne, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France. The municipality gave its name to Sauveterrian, a Mesolithic industry.

History: The Martinet shelter is a site of the Lemance Valley, located at the so-called Martinet in Sauveterre-la-Lémance. It was discovered in 1922 by the prehistorian Laurent Coulonges, who in 1928 drew the name Sauveterrian, an ancient Mesolithic industry before the Tardenoisian.

Description: The Martinet shelter is a large rock shelter of about 15 meters, located under a rocky overhang that mainly houses it, exposed to the South.

Vestiges: The site delivered many rescue microliths. Laurent Coulonges distinguishes an ancient phase of the Mesolithic, characterized by the presence of triangular microlithic reinforcements and which he enumerates Sauveterrian, and a more recent phase, marked by the development of trapezes and which he linked to the Tardenoisien, an industry which had been identified in France since the end of the 19th century.