ROCK-SHELTER OF LA COLOMBIERE—MOVIUS 367 
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 
On behalf of the expedition, it is my pleasure to take this oppor- 
tunity of thanking Professor Marcel Thoral, Director of the Labora- 
toire de Géologie, Faculté des Sciences de Université de Lyon, and 
Dr. Jean Viret, Director of the Muséum des Sciences Naturelles, 
Lyon, for their generous assistance and kind cooperation in connec- 
tion with our investigations at La Colombiére. It is also my privi- 
lege to thank Messrs. Joe E. Cason and Raymond H. Thompson, 
graduate students in the Department of Anthropology, Harvard 
University, for their expert help in deciphering the outlines of the ani- 
mals engraved on the La Colombiére pebble and reproduced on plates 
6 and 7 of this article. 
EXPLANATION OF PLATES 
PuiatTe 1 
General view of the rock-shelter of La Colombiére showing the Late Pleistocene 
terraces of the Ain Valley in the vicinity of Poncin. The site, which is 46 meters 
long and some 12 meters wide, faces due south and directly overlooks the Ain 
River. 
PLATE 2 
La Colombiére. Photograph taken by Dr. Mayet and M. Pissot in April 
1913, showing the stratification revealed in a trench dug in the western end of the 
site. 
PLATE 3 
1. The site looking east, showing the undisturbed surface of the deposits after 
clearing. In the left foreground what appeared to be the top of a filled-in lower 
cave may be noted. 
2. A deep trench, the outer or southern half of which was 2 meters wide, was 
dug through the river-laid terrace deposits at La Colombiére to determine whether 
or not the site had been occupied prior to its invasion by the river in Late Pleisto- 
cene times. Note the rails and trucks, used for removing the excavated material, 
in the foreground. 
PLATE 4 
1. Near the rear wall of the rock-shelter the width of the main trench was 
expanded to 4 meters. Bedrock was finally reached below a total thickness of 
11.85 meters of river-laid sands, silts, and gravels, of which the so-called La 
Colombiére terrace was formed. There was no evidence of an early occupation 
of the site. 
2. Section near the western end of La Colombiére showing the intimate and 
direct association of the gravelly occupation layers with the sands laid down when 
the Ain River invaded the site during the late stages of the formation of the 20- 
to 23-meter terrace. 
PLATE 5 
1. Broken Magdalenian bone object perforated at one end and decorated with 
chevron pattern crossed on one side by parallel lines. 
2. The interesting engraved pebble described in the accompanying text was 
found in the main (Upper Aurignacian/Gravettian) occupation layer at La 
