La Grotte des Fées

A Palaeolithic cave site in Chatelperron, Allier department, central France, serving as the type site for the Chatelperronian culture (c. 38,000-32,000 BP), a transitional industry created by the last Neanderthals. First discovered around 1840 during railway construction, the caves were excavated by Dr. Guillaume Bailleau between 1867 and 1872, and later by Henri Delporte in the 1950s, who identified Mousterian and Chatelperronian occupation levels. Abbe Breuil selected Chatelperron in 1906 to name this prehistoric culture, characterized by distinctive backed blades known as Chatelperron knives. The site provides key evidence for understanding the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition in western Europe.