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'Aurignac' is a small town (population 1,139) in the Haute-Garonne département of France, on the edge of the Pyrenees. It is the main town of the canton of Aurignac (population 4,160), which is composed of 19 communes.
The town is best known for the 1860 discovery, by Édouard Lartet, of prehistoric remains in nearby caves, which led to the definition of the Aurignacian culture. Aurignac is the type site for this important phase in human prehistory. Evidence of Cro-Magnon man has been found in Africa as far back as 160,000 years ago. When they came to Europe, about 40,000 years ago, their culture appears to have flourished with major advances in the use of tools and the development of figurative art. The Aurignacian culture has been called the first modern humans in Europe.
The exact origins of the town are not defined, although the 1957 discovery of the remains of a Roman habitation, with a well-preserved bath-house, 2.5 km from the present-day town suggests that the area was inhabited during the Gallo-Roman period. In 777 a Benedictine priory was founded in Aurignac as a dependancy of the Abbey of Saint Tiberi in the diocese of Agde. The first official record is from 1109, regarding Roger d'Aurignac, the Seigneur of the town. Between 1230 and 1240, Bernard V, Count of Comminges, built a fortified chateau on the hill around which the village developed. By the 1600's Aurignac had grown to become one of the more important towns of the Comminges, with 41 communes in its dependance, and an important centre of commerce, based on the production and tanning of leather. Its population was recorded as 2,500 in 1699. Henry IV ordered the destruction of the chateau in the early 1600's and, although it was still partly inhabited in 1627, it fell into disuse not long afterwards. All that remains today are the church, a well-restored donjon on the peak of the hill and the some of the ramparts, which have been incorporated into houses.
The town is located at and is 400m above sea level.

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References

References

★ Aurignac official web site (http://www.aurignac.fr/) accessed 16 Oct 2006

★ Concise Britannica - Aurignacian (http://concise.britannica.com/ebc/article-9356148/Aurignacian|title=Concise Britannica: Aurignacian) accessed 16 Oct 2006

★ Aurignacian, The First Modern Humans (http://lithiccastinglab.com/gallery-pages/2002marchaurignacianpage1.htm) accessed 4 Nov 2006

★ History of the Donjon - Notice erected by the Mairie of Aurignac

★ Aurignac, Histoire et Monuments, A. Algans, private publication