this area - I'm not certain if it's this exact area - there was no English in the museum, so I was using translate as I went ------------- but, it or and nearby were inhabited about 130,000 years ago - but, as the ice came - everyone buggered off and only came back in the final stage of the ice age.
In a site like this - one wouldn't expect to find a lot from way way way back - like in hundreds of thousands or millions of years ------- why?
Because the site is laid out like this - and nothing much really has changed --
there is a river and they would have walked downstream - the river then reaches the rock faces - which are on the Right bank (right side going downstream) ------ the river than turns left - and only maybe 50 metres further along (if you don't turn with the river) are where the people used the rock as shelter and later built stone based houses there.
When that river flooded - the river would have broken over the right bank and the right bank would have been on the fast side of the flow - which (I think) the water hurtling past where the shelter was - is what has given the rocks their shape - wave like over millions of years.
With such a huge water flow - nothing much would be left over millions of years - thousands - yes, maybe - as there is - but, millions --------- pffffffffft, unlikely - or if there is something - it's probably deep.
That's a vastly different layout to another place I go sometimes - where there is a lot of evidence of use and habitation going back continuously almost 2 million years - why the difference? No big bend in the river.
I've no idea how much difference climate made for this area - (Roquemissou) because this area is far higher in altitude. (Caves of Archy-sur-Cure - near Auxerre - habitation up to 2 million years - altitude about 130 to 14o ASL in the main cave entrances.) --- Roquemissou - 570 metres
My guess is that's a big difference in ice ages. And yes, at Caves of Archy-sur-Cure - they did survive there during the ice age - god knows how in winter. I don't think they ate tomatoes and lettuce during that time. I think they were pretty much pure meat eaters during the very cold months.
