ABRI FARAVEL, FRANCE—In a small rock shelter in the French Alps some 7,000 feet above sea level, archaeologists have used laser scans to create virtual models of the highest rock art depictions of animals ever discovered in Europe, reports the Yorkshire Post. The shelter was in regular use beginning in the Mesolithic period, about 10,000 years ago, and was at least occasionally occupied up to the medieval period. The team, led by University of York archaeologist Kevin Walsh, has found Mesolithic and Neolithic flint tools at the site, along with Iron Age pottery, a Roman-era brooch, and medieval metal objects. Nearby the cave they discovered Bronze Age stone dwellings and animal enclosures. While direct dating of the paintings themselves is impossible, they seem to be analogous to art made during the Neolithic at lower altitudes, and appear to depict a deer hunting scene. In addition to scanning the paintings, the team scanned the shelter itself and the surrounding landscape. “This is the only example of virtual models, including a scan of the art, done at high altitude in the Alps and probably the highest virtual model of an archaeological landscape in Europe,” said Walsh. To read more about scanning archaeological sites, go to "Lasers in the Jungle."
