La Ferrassie at the end of excavation 2011.

We began new excavations at the classic Middle and Upper Paleolithic site of La Ferrassie in 2010. In that year we opened a portion of the site adjacent to the road to test for in situ deposits. Based on an intial positive result, we returned in 2011 for a longer, more extensive season of excavation. Based on the work to date, it appears that the preserved sequence contains a Mousterian with bifaces at the base, followed by a Mousterian that is consistent with Ferrassie type Mousterian, followed by a layer insufficiently sampled to determine, and finally capped by an Aurignacian. Dating and geological studies are in processes. Future work will be directed towards establishing the horizontal extent of these deposits, resolving remaining issues regarding primary and secondary context deposits, and if possible expanding the archaeological samples from these layers.