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In bioarchaeology, the biometry of archaeozoological remains is an important component of studies on domestic species and size has been used for multiple purposes from identifying domestication, to track environmental changes or evolution of husbandry practices. The establishment of the Roman Empire has been accompanied by social, political and economic transformations that also reflect in farming practices and animal husbandry. In southern France, biometric variation has already been partially perceived during Roman times, particularly for cattle, but lack chronological accuracy and statistical validation. This paper presents a diachronic analysis of linear measurements of post-cranial bones belonging to the domestic triad (sheep, goat, cattle and suids) in western Gallia Narbonensis (France), between the Roman conquest and Late Antiquity, i.e. from 200 BCE to 400 AD. Biometric data from 64 archaeological sites, excavated and studied over more than 30 years of preventive archaeology, were analysed using a Log Size Index (LSI) approach using time as a continuous variable. The analysis of 5533 measurements first analysed per bone and variable, then separating length, breadth and depth dimensions, revealed different trends, highly influenced by the number of measurements, reflecting allometric differences but also cases of asynchronous evolution. However, these allometries within species are small when compared to interspecies differences. Overall, the size of the four taxa increased from the 2nd century BC to the 2nd century AD. Cattle and pig sizes then decreased from the 2nd century AD and only from the 4th century onwards for goats, while sheep size tends to increase during the 3rd-4th centuries. If the Roman conquest influences the size of the domestic animals, this does not affect the four species in the same way. This potentially reflects differentiated agropastoral strategies for each of the species in the western part of Gallia Narbonensis during the Roman period. This study, which provides a diachronic and cross-species study framework, should be seen as a first step for a more in-depth understanding of micro-regional and socio-economic variation in domestic species morphologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sedimentary sequence of La Narce du Béage Basin is one of the few natural archives covering the last 18 ka cal. BP in the French Massif Central. This paper focuses on the palaeoecological reconstruction of environmental and climatic changes affecting this shallow periglacial lake from the Late-Glacial to the Early Holocene. After field surveys and geophysical mapping, two cores (cores A and D) were extracted and dated. Plant macrofossils, pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs (NPPs) and diatom assemblages were compared within the cores to study vegetation, temperature, pH, water level and ice cover changes through time. During the Oldest Dryas (18–14.75 ka cal. BP), climatic conditions were the coldest with a short ice-free season allowing the development of periphytic diatoms only (ecologically comparable to Arctic ones). A cold and dry steppe landscape – exposed to severe erosion – comprised an herbaceous and shrub flora (e.g. Artemisia , Chenopodiaceae, Helianthemum, Ephedra, Hippophaë, Juniperus). Animal presence is suggested by coprophilous fungi. Periphytic diatoms and allochtonous pollen (Cedrus) underline windy conditions, and the possible erosion of neo-formed soils. Then, during the Bølling-Allerød interstadial (14.75–12.7 ka cal. BP), the ice-free season increased and some trees/shrubs (Salix, Betula and Juniperus) established locally within open grasslands. During the Younger Dryas (12.7–11.7 ka cal. BP) cooler conditions favoured steppe taxa again (Helianthemum, Achillea, Artemisia , Caryophyllaceae, Ranunculaceae) and erosion increased. The ice cover on the lake prevailed even if the conditions were not as cold as during the Oldest Dryas. During the Preboreal (11.7–10 ka cal. BP) Isoëtes echinospora and I. lacustris developed in the eulittoral zone of the lake, which was surrounded by a swamp forest (with Betula nana and B. pubescens). Pinus sylvestris, Betula pendula, Corylus avellana and trees from the Quercetum mixtum rapidly established in the uplands. Occurrences of Gaeumannomyces and Xylomyces fungi – both phytopathogens on broadleaved trees – and decreasing herb values indirectly hint at a close forest canopy. At the beginning of the Boreal (10 ka cal. BP), aquatic and semi-aquatic taxa developed on open water due to longer ice-free seasons (diatoms, micro-algae, Alisma plantago-aquatica, Potamogeton, Typha). The final terrestrialization towards a mire occurred as a consequence of the Holocene warming and related to water chemistry changes (acidification, eutrophication). • During the last deglaciation, a very shallow lake established as demonstrated by palaeoecological data, such as epiphytic diatoms, living on rocks. • Late-Glacial steppe landscape with severe erosion, open grassland and possible mega-herbivore presence. Arctic-like conditions. • Development of shrubs or trees during the Bølling-Allerød interstadial and reduced ice-free season. • Dry and cold conditions persisted from the Younger Dryas to the Early Preboreal. Oligotrophic flora (Isoetids) established in the eulittoral zone. • During the post-glacial warming, the lake tended to acidify. Peat flora and organic matter accumulated and led to the terrestrialization of the lake. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main drivers of Europe's climate during the Holocene result from the coupling and interplay of external and internal radiative processes with the shifting patterns of many dynamic components (e.g. glaciers, ocean currents, wind fields, vegetation cover). Those driving forces were expressed across a range of geographical scales, from local to global, in a diverse set of records forming a patchwork of evidence as to the fundamental pacing effect of climate on past ecosystems. Various sedimentary deposits resulting from those complex forcing contexts bear climatic signatures that it is not always easy to disentangle especially with respect to local factors. The present paper focuses on a coastal archaeological site on the Medoc peninsula (the Lède du Gurp site in south-western France) that records Holocene palaeoenvironmental changes, decoded here century after century and integrated with ongoing events on a pan-North-Atlantic scale. Based on updated geoarchaeological approaches, thanks to new applications of proxies, especially X-ray fluorescence (XRF) core scanning methods for this article, continuous sedimentary records have been analysed in order to reconstruct a regional framework for past ecosystem events, including events potentially related to human activity. Our work identifies signals on various scales in the record under study, with both long- and short-term trends and local and global imprints, but all closely bound up with proximal North Atlantic Ocean dynamics. It highlights how western European environments (and so populations) were dependent upon the linearity of climate evolution at the key Northgrippian/Meghalayan transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous methodological developments in the field of anthracology have led to the definition of rigorous sampling methods in archaeological contexts, which provide highly accurate and reliable taxonomic frequency spectra as a basis for understanding past woodland vegetation. However, the fuelwood taxon frequency spectra represent a synthetic picture of forest composition in the environs of an archaeological site. Our aim in this paper is to describe the heterogeneity of woodland distribution. The Abeurador cave (Hérault) in the south of France, has previously provided an exceptionally rich palaeoecological study. We further explore the spatial frequency distributions of the charcoal taxa found in charcoal scatters from two layers dated to the Mesolithic (Preboreal). The frequencies of abundant taxa have a unimodal distribution in the sampled grid squares, close to the normal distribution. The ratio s2/m (variance/mean) termed the 'distribution index', estimates the regularity of distribution of each taxon in the grid squares. We hypothesized that the frequency distribution of a taxon in a layer could be considered to be its statistical sampling distribution (i.e. probability distribution) in the firewood collection catchment at a given time, since the quantity of this taxon fluctuates in each firewood assemblage according to its probability of collection, relating to its distribution heterogeneity (or accessibility) in the past environment. The distribution index was then used to estimate the heterogeneity of the palaeoenvironmental distribution of each taxon and thus its random, uniform or clustered distribution. On this basis, we propose a mapped restitution of the evolution of the main woodland species in the surroundings of the Abeurador during the Early Holocene, integrated with the whole sequence dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Badegoulian technocomplex holds a special place among the West European Upper Paleolithic (UP) cultural traditions. Often understated or even bypassed by the main prehistorical overviews, caught between the fascinating Solutrean and the "classic" Magdalenian technocomplexes, it nonetheless probably marks a turning point in the evolving trajectory of hunter-gatherers in present-day France. The deep typo-technological changes, traditionally noted through lithic equipment, have recently been examined in the framework of interdisciplinary programs centered on several key-stratigraphic sequences located in south-west France. The combined analyses of flint, bone and antler assemblages, ornaments and faunal remains, together with the implementation of systematic archaeostratigraphic reassessment and radiometric dating, serve to confirm the speed and the strength of these changes ca. 23 cal ka BP. Without going into detail into the Solutrean-Badegoulian transition issue, the present paper provides a synthetic overview of the main Badegoulian characteristics—and their known variability—on the basis of the lithic and osseous equipment that guided the original identification. Following a three-step structure successively exploring the "when", the "what" and the "where" questions, we will look at the current challenges in LGM chronocultural research, between (false) consensus and (true) sticking points. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The hunting technical sphere has a particularly important socioeconomic role among hunter-gatherers as it provides vital nutritive goods and serves numerous technical spheres. Approaching Upper Palaeolithic hunting techniques therefore offers a valuable insight into past cultural dynamics. Microliths are often the only conserved evidence of Magdalenian hunting equipment, occasionally accompanied by osseous projectile points to which they were exceptionally found hafted. Backed bladelets are the most common Magdalenian microliths. In this paper, we investigate their function as projectile insert, and address the question of projectiles designs through the analysis of impact damages. In this perspective, we implemented three experimentations including manufacturing, trampling and use of backed bladelets as projectile inserts. Results show distinctive combinations of damages between each three experimentations, allowing to reinforce the damaging pattern of lateral flint inserts and to discriminate lateral scars specific to the impact. The functional analysis of backed bladelets from two Early Middle Magdalenian sites located in west-central France (La Marche and the Blanchard cave) shows that these tools were specifically used as projectile inserts. The bladelets impact damage patterns are different between the two sites and match differences of morphologies of antler projectile points. The systemic reasoning carried out allows evidencing variations of hunting technical behaviours that were not, until then, perceived through the comparison of production techniques and typology of microlith assemblages of west-central France. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Groundwater represents the most important freshwater resource. In this paper, we applied a spatial approach based on the Geographical Information Systems (GIS) technology to assess the groundwater vulnerability in the Grand Est region from northeastern France. Aquifers media (AM), potential infiltration map (PIM), pollution load index (PLI), and effective precipitation (EP) were the main parameters used in the calculation of groundwater vulnerability. This study proposes a spatial-temporal analysis including past (1961–1990), near future (2011–2040), and more distant future (2041–2070), thereafter called the 1990s, the 2020s, and the 2050s. To validate the results, groundwater monitoring stations data of Nitrate (NO 3 −), dated from 2005 to 2012, was used as reference datasets. The validation of the groundwater vulnerability map was based on pixel pair comparison (PPC) method and it indicates 42.85% perfect confidence and 50% good confidence for the groundwater vulnerability map in 2020s period. The high groundwater vulnerability was found in the Rhine, Marne, and Aube Valleys, while the low and very low vulnerability was depicted in the Vosges, Ardennes Mountains, and some territories form the central region for all three periods. Application of the proposed framework indicates increases of vulnerability up to 60% between 1990s and 2020s and up to 80% between 1990s and 2050s scenarios. The output maps and findings could be useful for the future environmental plans of the region and, in addition, could help mitigate the problems related to water resources, considering the climate expectations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The notion of rupture dominates reflections on the prehistoric occupation of the Massif Central (France). From this perspective, the recent Upper Palaeolithic is interpreted through a prism of migrations or climatic determinism. All studies confirm a marginal occupation of this territory during the LGM and at the beginning of the Late Glacial. More than a historiographical balance, this article reviews the definition of early Magdalenian stages in the Massif Central and attempts to place them in an evolutionary process. This approach leads to the proposal of new diagnostic elements for chrono-cultural determination. Not only is the presence or absence of some typical tool types used, but an attempt is made to recognize whole (or parts of) coherent lithic systems. The aim of this paper is to illustrate this methodology through well-documented examples: data from the sequence of the Abri Durif in Enval (Sol de la Grange and Fond de l''Abri, Vic-le-Comte, Puy-de-Dôme, France) clearly highlights the differences between two subphases. This paper presents the results of the first analyses of these lithic assemblages, focusing on microliths whose particular typo-technological characteristics are analyzed in detail (strong backed bladelets of the Sol de la Grange vs. bladelets with marginal right backing of the Fond de l''Abri). This distinction between two chronological and technological traditions is discussed, substantially changing the classical evolutionary schema between Magdalenian and Badegoulian in this region. Particular chrono-regional episodes can be identified in the huge Magdalenian “mosaic”. Based on radiocarbon data, a new subdivision in the Paleolithic sequence of the French Massif Central (Middle Magdalenian vs. Upper Magdalenian) is proposed, reflecting the emergence of a particular paleohistorical event. Dominated by a relative arrhythmic pattern, this transition seems to reflect a greater span of time, through the successive emergence and development of technical and symbolic attributes that may be considered as representative of cultural identity of Magdalenian societies. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The "Solutrean hypothesis" for the origins of the North American Clovis Culture posits that early North American colonizers were direct descendants of European populations that migrated across the North Atlantic during the European Upper Paleolithic. The evidential basis for this model rests largely on proposed technological and behavioral similarities shared by the North American Clovis archaeological culture and the French and Iberian Solutrean archaeological culture. The caching of stone tools by both cultures is one of the specific behavioral correlates put forth by proponents in support of the hypothesis. While more than two dozen Clovis caches have been identified, Volgu is the only Solutrean cache identified at this time. Volgu consists of at least 15 exquisitely manufactured bifacial stone tools interpreted as an artifact cache or ritual deposit, and the artifacts themselves have long been considered exemplary of the most refined Solutrean bifacial technology. This paper reports the results of applying methods developed for the comparative analysis of the relatively more abundant caches of Clovis materials in North America to this apparently singular Solutrean cache. In addition to providing a window into Solutrean technology and perhaps into Upper Paleolithic ritual behavior, this comparison of Clovis and Solutrean assemblages serves to test one of the tangible archaeological implications of the "Solutrean hypothesis" by evaluating the technological and behavioral equivalence of Solutrean and Clovis artifact caching. The hypothesized historical connection is evaluated based on the attributes of the caches themselves, the evidence for geographic and temporal continuity in caching between the two cultures, and the proposed uniqueness of this behavior to Solutrean and Clovis. Results from the comparison of Volgu to Clovis caches indicate that they are divergent with regard to a number of important attributes and appear to represent neither equivalent behaviors nor a historical connection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Signs in Upper Palaeolithic art provide an important criterion of assessing cultural affinities or differences. The Swabian Jura in southern Germany and Grotte Chauvet in the Ardèche region in southern France – both inscribed in the list of the UNESCO world heritage - supply the most important examples of Aurignacian art known so far. Of a particular interest in this respect are characteristic types of signs which can be associated with depictions of animals. This paper examines the distinctive ways in which this association is realized in these two regions, including the question which type of signs was employed. Despite of the small data base and the lack of sophisticated statistical tests, this study may help to provide first hints to the question if the Aurignacian groups of the Ardèche and the Swabian Jura, whose areas are linked by important river systems, used similar or different sets of signs and in which animal contexts these signs were used. These results may give indications to what extent these groups were part of the same or different cultural entities and subsequently shared feelings of a common ethnicity and belief-world or not. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This paper explores the relationship between past climate and prehistoric Mediterranean agriculture by adapting a process-based dynamic vegetation model to estimate potential agricultural productivity under climate scenarios that characterize the extremes of Mediterranean climate in the Holocene. We adapt LPJmL (the Lund-Potsdam-Jena-managed-land model [Bondeau et al., 2007]), a process-based dynamic vegetation model, to the modeling of potential agricultural productivity in the past. Calibrating this model for past crops and agricultural practices and using a downscaling approach to produce high spatiotemporal resolution paleoclimate data, we produce quantitative estimates of potential yields under past climatic conditions derived from four Holocene climatic extremes (warm/wet, warm/dry, cold/wet, and cold/dry) under two different assumptions (approximate high and low limits) about the intensity of agricultural practice. We here discuss this process with reference to a case study in Provence, examining the methodology and data requirements for modeling past agriculture using LPJmL and considering the implications of the range of variability in potential agricultural productivity under distinct climate conditions. We focus particularly on comparing the range of variability induced by climatic shifts with that achievable through changes in agricultural practices as a means of approaching questions of past vulnerability and resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper is a review of the possible influences of deep structures on Quaternary sedimentation and the distribution of raised beaches, a problem which has never been raised before in any paper. The distribution of the Quaternary outcrops is very patchy in Brittany and seems to be organized in a random way, partly because the control by the short wavelength basement structures is not easy to recognize but also because the most efficient control is associated with long wavelength structures which are far beyond the scale of the usual geological maps and the immediate observations. Gravity data and terrain-levelling give far better results than the other geophysical techniques when the Moho undulations are compared with the surficial data. The two main domains involved in the long wavelength deformations are (a) the Alpine domain where all the Moho undulations are concentric with the Alps; and (b) the Armorican domain in which all the undulations are west–northwest–east–southeast oriented, parallel with the axis of the initial opening of the Bay of Biscay. Study of the topography and of the superficial structures associated with these undulations reveals that the undulations delineated in the Alpine Domain result from compression (buckling). These associated with the Armorican Domain result from extension (boudinage). Both phenomena show a typical wavelength of 200–250km, which is in agreement with the results of the physical and numerical modeling currently available. These two types of deformations are crosscutting in Brittany. The general uplift of Western and Central Brittany is a well-controlled geological phenomenon. This is shown by the incision of the rivers which increases towards the west, suggesting larger uplift in the west than in the east. This uplift has been also demonstrated by two different terrain-levelling techniques. The distribution of the Pleistocene/Holocene sediments is compared with the deep structures. The westernmost Alpine undulation controlled the north–south deposition of the recent loess and swamps in eastern Brittany. The Biscay Bay related structure controlled the deposition of loess along the northern coast of Brittany, and also the location of the Pleistocene raised beaches. The gradient in beach age results from the preferential uplift of the westernmost part of Brittany. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper focuses on past woodland changes and land uses in an ancient mining area of the Eastern Pyrenees (Ariège, France). The area discussed is located at the western entrance of the Vicdessos, a valley with significant steel production, and it is crossed by the road used from the 14th c. to the end of the 18th c. for the iron-charcoal exchange with the forest Province of Couserans. The introduction of this singular exchange and the silver ore mining history of this border area raise the question of their impact on forest cover changes and changes in human practices and their link with anthropisation processes. To deal with this issue, we put in place an interdisciplinary approach involving archaeology, charcoal analysis, ecological history and geochemistry. The archaeological investigations and fourteen radiocarbon ages allowed characterising and dating of mining and charcoal-making remains. They situate the emergence of metal ore mining during the Second Iron Age and charcoal making activity between the 15th and 17th c. The geochemical analysis of 9 galena samples showed some different isotopic signatures between ores extracted in ancient times and those mined during the modern period. The charcoal analysis of (i) 2442 charcoals from 31 charcoal kilns (ii) 500 from one pedoarchaeological pit excavated in a waste heap related to firesetting, and (iii) 250 from two pedoanthracological sampling points carried out in the charcoal burning forest, permits a detailed reconstruction of the woodland cover changes from the Second Iron Age to the 19th c. Furthermore, the combination of data from different disciplines allows for a long-term reconstruction of human practices history and woodland management for different uses. In particular, the results show the transformation of the fir-beech forest, still dominated by fir around the turn of the Roman era, into pure beech wood managed on northern slopes for human daily needs, occasionally mining, lumber and mainly charcoal production until the 19th c. The elimination of fir dates back to the 17th c. This assumes the end of lumber activities in that period. Pedoanthracological and palynological data suggest that southern slopes, progressively deforested since the Bronze Age, were entirely devoted to permanent agropastoral activities probably at least since the end of the medieval period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In southern France, the spread of blade and trapeze industries brought to an end the high stability of the technical and economic system of the Epipalaeolithic (Azilian) and Early Mesolithic (Sauveterrian) groups. The Late Mesolithic is, in fact, characterized by substantial modifications of technological standards and conceptual schemes as testified by the appearance of new tools (i.e. notched blades) and the renewal of the microlithic toolkits. A preliminary use-wear analysis carried out on a Castelnovian lithic assemblage of the Montclus rock-shelter (Gard, Southern France) enabled to investigate how the functional behavior was affected by these innovations. In this paper the results concerning the two most emblematic tools are going to be presented: notched blades and trapezes. The former appeared to be an extremely dedicated tool type while the latter have been correlated to a new functioning and hafting mode. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most Upper Palaeolithic sites show a tendency for tools to correspond to a single function. In this case, successive resharpening leads to a reduction in tool size, changes in morphology, and changes to the angle of the active edges. In contrast, tools are sometimes resharpened, reshaped, and/or recycled after use for domestic activities, and are then employed for highly specialized tasks. In this paper, we will show how tool management can be different through examples from the European Magdalenian: Champréveyres and Monruz, two open-air sites with seasonal occupations, and Roc-aux-Sorciers, a rock shelter site with a long occupation and remarkable artistic activities. The status of these sites involves different visions, conceptions, and managements of the tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: New paleoclimatic data for the Lateglacial clarify climatic phases during the Lateglacial. Cold climate played a key role in limiting Magdalenian expansion from southwest and central Europe This paper presents chronological and geographic data for the different climatic phases to map the expansion of the Magdalenian into northwest Europe. Specifically, it can be seen that initial expansion follows a southwest-northeast trajectory into southern Germany, followed by northern expansion into Belgium, central Germany and the Paris Basin at the end of the Oldest Dryas. During the Bølling and Allerød phases, human occupation intensified in the Paris Basin and contacts and/or territorial exploitation between both the Paris Basin and the Rhineland region with Belgian territory is demonstrated. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper presents a synthesis of current knowledge on the Magdalenian in the Paris Basin. An inventory of sites and a review of the available radiocarbon dates are used to discuss the peopling of this region over a long period, covering the successive Badegoulian, Middle and Upper Magdalenian cultures. A large part of this synthesis is then devoted to the Upper phase of the Magdalenian, which today benefits from an abundant record obtained through several decades of research conducted using a palethnographic approach. The habitation sites, mobility patterns and subsistence strategies of human groups are discussed from a multidisciplinary perspective integrating the most recent discoveries. These discoveries allow the proposal of a model of territorial occupation based on reduced and small scale mobility patterns. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper discusses the evolution of the Tech river lower plain, (western Mediterranean) from the Late Middle Ages, using geomorphological, archaeological and historical data. Geoarchaeological data was obtained from coring and trenching near a buried village and chapel. Radiocarbon and archaeological dating are used to reconstitute sedimentation rates and major flood event chronology. Additional data about channel avulsion are provided by historical data. Increases in sedimentation rate, flooding plain enlargement and repeated avulsion are identified between the last 13th to 15th century AD. This attests to a shift from low water-level regime (LWR) to flood dominated regime (FDR). Climatic or anthropogenic causes of this change are discussed on the basis of regional synthesis. On the western Mediterranean scale, 1250/1350 AD seems to be a wetter phase, associated with the progressive onset of the Early Little Ice Age phase from 1330 to 1450 AD. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In Europe and southwest Asia, ungulates are generally very well represented in anthropogenically-accumulated assemblages dating to the Middle and early Late Pleistocene. In contrast, taphonomic studies have shown that fast small-sized prey taxa, such as leporids, small carnivores and birds, were rarely exploited during these time periods. These faunal patterns are often interpreted as indicating that Neandertals were characterized by a narrow diet, a finding with important social and technological implications. This paper reexamines this view using faunal data from Les Canalettes layer 4, a Middle Paleolithic faunal assemblage in Mediterranean France dominated by rabbit remains. Multiple lines of evidence, including the presence of cutmarks and shaft cylinders, suggest that humans accumulated most of the rabbit specimens found in this layer. This and other comparable assemblages raise a number of issues with respect to variations in diet breadth prior to the Upper Paleolithic. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In inland France, diets dominated by the wild European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) enter the archaeological record around the Pleistocene–Holocene transition, whereas zooarchaeological faunas from Mediterranean Spain typically contain rabbit in abundance much earlier in the Upper Paleolithic. This paper compares data from these two times and places, drawing particularly on faunal data from the Soultrean site of Cueva de Ambrosio (Almería Province, Spain) and the Magdalenian site of Moulin du Roc (Dordogne, France), to consider biogeographic, environmental, and cultural factors that might contribute to the development of rabbit-dominated diets in southwestern Europe. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper aims to review current evidence and to develop new ideas and hypotheses concerning the status of the Châtelperronian in the context of the Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition. Attention is focused on archeostratigraphy and lithic evidence from South-Western France. The stratigraphic evidence can no longer be used to affirm a Châtelperronian/Aurignacian contemporaneity and is not a good indicator of Mousterian of Acheulean Tradition/Châtelperronian continuity. Concerning lithic productions, the transitional aspect of the Châtelperronian industry seems to be a result of post-depositional disturbances. The industry that directly followed the Châtelperronian in several sequences of South-Western France was the Protoaurignacian. Based on lithic equipment, the Châtelperronian is a pure leptolithic industry, which has a more common orientation with the Protoaurignacian than with any final Mousterian technocomplexes. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The Moula-Guercy cave, in the southeast of France, contains an important stratigraphic sequence attributed to the Mousterian, of Middle and Upper Pleistocene age. The faunal assemblages are rich and have been biostratigraphically well dated. After methodical excavations from 1992 to 1999, layer XV, representing a temperate optimum (MIS 5.5), yielded over a hundred Neanderthal remains with evidence of cannibalism on six specimens. This paper presents the detailed and hitherto unpublished results of the archaeozoological study of the large mammals from this level. In 1999, relatively classical analytical methods were applied in order to compare the results with those of the cannibalised human remains, studied separately. The fauna from layer XV is not abundant but is very diversified, represented by over 1500 remains from 23 different species. The red deer is the second most consumed species after the human species. Layer XV appears to correspond to a summer or autumn hunting halt. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Roc-de-Combe is a well-known Palaeolithic site which has yielded deposits spanning the Middle-to-Upper Palaeolithic transition. While the faunal remains were recently studied by Grayson and Delpech, this paper presents a new analysis of the Châtelperronian and Early Aurignacian faunal assemblages based on both published and previously unpublished material in order to clarify the manner in which ungulates were exploited and discuss the status of carnivores and small game at the site. Despite similarities between Châtelperronian and Early Aurignacian assemblages, several differences exist in seasonality and prey selection, butchering practices and small-game exploitation. These results differ from earlier studies that tend to demonstrate no significant differences in species exploitation between Châtelperronian and Early Aurignacian. It appears that hunting choices were closely linked to the physical conditions of the ungulates. At Roc-de-Combe, hunters adapted their butchering practices according to the season often resulting in the intense exploitation of carcasses. Furthermore, the status of some small prey changes between the Châtelperronian and the Early Aurignacian. These changes can be linked to particular objectives such as the exploitation of pelts or the fabrication of personal ornaments. Finally, the results suggest that the two humans groups occupied and exploited the same territory in different ways. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Pyrotechnology must be seen as one of the most important technological developments in human prehistory. Once developed it eventually came to serve a wide range of applications, but when this actually occurred is not well understood. Fire is well known at a number of Middle Palaeolithic sites in Western Europe, and the Neandertals of this region clearly made use of it at some times and at some sites. Recent excavations at two generally contemporaneous Middle Palaeolithic sites in the Dordogne region of France, Pech de l’Azé IV and Roc de Marsal, have provided significant data on Neandertal use of fire. Both sites have revealed a number of extremely well preserved and delineated fire features at the base of their sequences. The goals of this paper are to describe and contrast the combustion features from these two sites using both field observations and laboratory data that employ micromorphological and FTIR techniques. Pyrotechnological differences can be seen, representing differences in Neandertal fire use and, potentially, site use. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A distinctive feature of the Palaeolithic of Western France is that most of the sites are along the present coast line and that the archaeological layers are often partially eroded and contained in very residual Pleistocene silty sediments preserved under the beaches. In the absence of radiometric dating, correlations with local deposits and reference to a regional chronostratigraphic scale allow proposal of a geological age. Where direct radiometric or related dating (i.e. OSL) results exist, sedimentological analysis (i.e. “descriptive” sedimentology) can be used either to confirm the dating or to extend the discussion. This paper is based on examples which have been processed over thirty years but that had never been the subject of an overall methodological presentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Evidence of earliest human settlements observed in the alluvial formations of the Middle Loire Basin during systematic surveys organised since 1981. Many stepped fluvial terraces deposited during the successive interglacial–glacial Quaternary cycles have been identified in three tributary valleys of the Loire River: the Creuse, Cher and Loir Valleys. These alluvial remnants were systematically dated by the Electron Spin Resonance (ESR) method applied on optically bleached quartz, in order to construct a chronostratigraphical framework for the fluvial systems and the associated archaeological localities. Four localities containing Early Palaeolithic industries with Mode 1 technology, occupied during the Lower Pleistocene, and ten sites characterized by assemblages with handaxes, discovered in the Middle Pleistocene alluvial formations, are described in this paper. These two sets of localities are characterized by lithic industries with many differences in supply of raw materials and in technical behaviours. The results indicate that this area was reached by two separate phases of human settlement (one in relation to Mode 1, the other to Mode 2) with an interval around 400ka, at the end of the Lower Pleistocene, during a period characterized by major climatic degradations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]