362 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1949 
Now, as may be clearly observed in several of the fine photographs 
published by Mayet and Pissot, the basal deposits in the La Colom- 
biére rock-shelter consist of river-laid sands and gravels that form 
part of the 20- to 23-meter terrace of the Ain (pl. 2), which has a 
wide distribution in the region. Presumably during the warm 
months of the year, Upper Paleolithic hunters moved into this section 
of the Ain Valley and actually camped on the surface of this terrace, 
which more than half fills up the area protected by the overhanging 
rock at La Colombiére. They left behind various types of flint 
implements—knives, points, scrapers, and engraving tools—as well 
as several objects with drawings of animals engraved on them, and 
the bones of the game they hunted. 
These vestiges of a Stone Age occupation are found in direct asso- 
clation with extensive fire hearths in the uppermost levels of the 
terrace referred to above. In other words, the earliest habitation 
layers at this site, which consist of two gravel horizons (D; and D2 in 
pl. 2), are intimately and directly tied in with the final stages of 
deposition by the river. These so-called ‘“D” layers in turn were 
separated from the overlying Magdalenian horizon * (indicated as B 
on the section) by a thick deposit of sterile sand, there having been 
no Solutrean occupation * here. 
The two primary objectives of the 1948 expedition of the Peabody 
Museum of Harvard University to eastern France, therefore, were: 
(a) To excavate the rock-shelter of La Colombiére, near the town 
of Poncin (Ain); and 
(6) To investigate the extensively developed Late Pleistocene 
terraces of the Ain Valley for the purpose of dating the main occupa- 
tion layer at La Colombiére in terms of the local glacial sequence. 
Both of these objectives were successfully accomplished. 
This work was made financially possible by a substantial grant from 
the Viking Fund of New York for which we are profoundly grateful. 
We would also like to take this opportunity of thanking the Com- 
mission of Historic Monuments, Ministry of National Education, 
Republic of France, which very generously gave its authorization for 
the expedition to undertake the excavation of La Colombiére. This 
permission was granted to the writer under the same conditions as 
those normally established for French archeologists. 
WORK OF THE 1948 SEASON 
The excavations at the rock-shelter of La Colombiére were begun 
on June 10 and completed on August 20, 1948. Im this 10-week 
period the remaining archeological deposits at the site were completely 
3 This layer was completely excavated by Mayet and Pissot during their 1912-13 season. 
4 The type station of the Solutrean culture, Solutré (Saéne-et-Loire) is located near Macon, less than 35 
miles due west of Poncin. 
