Search

Your search keyword '"Mercier N"' showing total 13 results
Start Over Author "Mercier N" Topic archaeology
13 results on '"Mercier N"'

1. An improved chronology for the Middle Stone Age at El Mnasra cave, Morocco.

Author

Ben Arous E, Philippe A, Shao Q, Richter D, Lenoble A, Mercier N, Richard M, Stoetzel E, Tombret O, El Hajraoui MA, Nespoulet R, and Falguères C

Subjects
Animals, Bayes Theorem, Caves, Luminescent Measurements, Morocco, Tooth chemistry, Archaeology, Fossils
Abstract

North African coastal Middle Stone Age (MSA) sites are key to study the development and expansion of early H. sapiens. El Mnasra cave on the Atlantic coast of Morocco (Témara region) is a crucial site associated with MSA archaeological materials considered advanced cognitive hallmarks of behavioural innovation, such as numerous Nassariidae perforated shells, hematite pigments, bones industry and coastal resources exploitation. We provide new trapped-charges dates (OSL and combined US-ESR ages). Our Bayesian modelling strengthens the new lithostratigraphic interpretation of the cave stratigraphic units (US) and we propose an updated chronostratigraphic model for the Middle Stone Age archaeo-sequence of El Mnasra Cave. We confirm a human presence between 124-104 ka, earlier than what the previous OSL and US-ESR data showed. Our time range intervals allowed us to also extend the age of the MSA occupations considerably to the MIS 4/3 (~62-30 ka), marked by the disappearance of the Nassariidae perforated shells. Outstandingly, our model pushed back the age of the largest record of Nassariidae perforated shells and placed the age of their use by the Aterian groups at El Mnasra from the MIS 5d-5b (~115-94 ka)., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Published
2022
Full Text
View/download PDF

2. A West African Middle Stone Age site dated to the beginning of MIS 5: Archaeology, chronology, and paleoenvironment of the Ravin Blanc I (eastern Senegal).

Author

Douze K, Lespez L, Rasse M, Tribolo C, Garnier A, Lebrun B, Mercier N, Ndiaye M, Chevrier B, and Huysecom E

Subjects
Biological Evolution, History, Ancient, Humans, Senegal, Archaeology, Industry history, Technology history
Abstract

The Ravin Blanc I archaeological occurrence, dated to MIS 5, provides unprecedented data on the Middle Stone Age (MSA) of West Africa since well-contextualized archaeological sites pre-dating MIS 4/3 are extremely rare for this region. The combined approach on geomorphology, phytolith analysis, and OSL date estimations offers a solid framework for the MSA industry comprised in the Ravin Blanc I sedimentary sequence. The paleoenvironmental reconstruction further emphasizes on the local effects of the global increase in moisture characterizing the beginning of the Upper Pleistocene as well as the later shift to more arid conditions. The lithic industry, comprised in the lower part of the sequence and dated to MIS 5e, shows core reduction sequences among which Levallois methods are minor, as well as an original tool-kit composition, among which pieces with single wide abrupt notches, side-scrapers made by inverse retouch, and a few large crudely shaped bifacial tools. The Ravin Blanc I assemblage has neither a chronologically equivalent site to serve comparisons nor a clear techno-typological correspondent in West Africa. However, the industry represents an early MSA technology that could either retain influences from the southern West African 'Sangoan' or show reminiscences of the preceding local Acheulean. A larger-scale assessment of behavioral dynamics at work at the transition period between the Middle to Upper Pleistocene is discussed in view of integrating this new site to the global perception of this important period in the MSA evolutionary trajectories., (Copyright © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Published
2021
Full Text
View/download PDF

3. The MIS5 Pietersburg at '28' Bushman Rock Shelter, Limpopo Province, South Africa.

Author

Porraz G, Val A, Tribolo C, Mercier N, de la Peña P, Haaland MM, Igreja M, Miller CE, and Schmid VC

Subjects
Culture, Fossils, Humans, Luminescence, Quartz, South Africa, Archaeology trends, Paleontology trends, Technology trends, Tool Use Behavior
Abstract

In the past few decades, a diverse array of research has emphasized the precocity of technically advanced and symbolic practices occurring during the southern African Middle Stone Age. However, uncertainties regarding the regional chrono-cultural framework constrain models and identification of the cultural and ecological mechanisms triggering the development of such early innovative behaviours. Here, we present new results and a refined chronology for the Pietersburg, a techno-complex initially defined in the late 1920's, which has disappeared from the literature since the 1980's. We base our revision of this techno-complex on ongoing excavations at Bushman Rock Shelter (BRS) in Limpopo Province, South Africa, where two Pietersburg phases (an upper phase called '21' and a lower phase called '28') are recognized. Our analysis focuses on the '28' phase, characterized by a knapping strategy based on Levallois and semi-prismatic laminar reduction systems and typified by the presence of end-scrapers. Luminescence chronology provides two sets of ages for the upper and lower Pietersburg of BRS, dated respectively to 73±6ka and 75±6ka on quartz and to 91±10ka and 97±10ka on feldspar, firmly positioning this industry within MIS5. Comparisons with other published lithic assemblages show technological differences between the Pietersburg from BRS and other southern African MIS5 traditions, especially those from the Western and Eastern Cape. We argue that, at least for part of MIS5, human populations in South Africa were regionally differentiated, a process that most likely impacted the way groups were territorially and socially organized. Nonetheless, comparisons between MIS5 assemblages also indicate some typological similarities, suggesting some degree of connection between human groups, which shared similar innovations but manipulated them in different ways. We pay particular attention to the end-scrapers from BRS, which represent thus far the earliest documented wide adoption of such tool-type and provide further evidence for the innovative processes characterizing southern Africa from the MIS5 onwards., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Published
2018
Full Text
View/download PDF

4. Dating the Middle Paleolithic deposits of La Quina Amont (Charente, France) using luminescence methods.

Author

Frouin M, Lahaye C, Valladas H, Higham T, Debénath A, Delagnes A, and Mercier N

Subjects
Animals, France, Humans, Archaeology, Luminescence, Radiometric Dating
Abstract

The site of La Quina Amont, located in the Charente region, is one of the most important sites in southwestern France for studying major changes in human behaviors from the Middle Paleolithic (MP) to the Early Upper Paleolithic (EUP). Extensively excavated over the past 50 years, numerous dating studies have been focused on the Upper Paleolithic deposits using radiocarbon on bone collagen and thermoluminescence (TL) on heated flints; however, the Mousterian levels remain undated due to the scarcity of suitable materials. Our investigations aimed to provide for the first time a chronological framework for the site using luminescence dating methods on different minerals contained in the sediments. Coarse grains of quartz were dated using the optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) technique, and polymineral fine grains were dated using both infrared (IRSL) and post-infrared (pIR-IRSL) stimulated luminescence signals. OSL, IRSL and pIR-IRSL results were combined with available TL and radiocarbon data sets to propose a chronology for the site. The agreement between these methods provides key insights into the sedimentological processes involved in the site formation and into the chronology of the human occupations. In particular, it shows that the sequence spans almost ∼20,000 years (20 ka). Moreover, the new chronological framework suggests that the makers of the Quina lithic technocomplex (LTC), who were reindeer hunters, inhabited the site from the end of marine isotope stage (MIS) 4 to the beginning of MIS 3. We also show that Levallois and Discoidal industries occurred successively under temperate paleoclimatic conditions, during MIS 3 but not after ∼40 ka. Finally, we compare the Quina LTC dataset with other sites in southern France in order to shed light upon the variability in Mousterian industries of this region., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Published
2017
Full Text
View/download PDF

5. Dating the Lower to Middle Paleolithic transition in the Levant: a view from Misliya Cave, Mount Carmel, Israel.

Author

Valladas H, Mercier N, Hershkovitz I, Zaidner Y, Tsatskin A, Yeshurun R, Vialettes L, Joron JL, Reyss JL, and Weinstein-Evron M

Subjects
Animal Migration, Animals, Hominidae, Israel, Paleontology, Technology, Archaeology methods, Fossils, Radiometric Dating
Abstract

The transition from the Lower to the Middle Paleolithic in the Levant is a crucial event in human evolution, since it may involve the arrival of a new human population. In the current study, we present thermoluminescence (TL) dates obtained from 32 burnt flints retrieved from the late Lower Paleolithic (Acheulo-Yabrudian) and Early Middle Paleolithic (Mousterian) layers of Misliya Cave, Mount Carmel, Israel. Early Middle Paleolithic industries rich in Levallois and laminar products were assigned mean ages ranging from ~250 to ~160 ka (thousands of years ago), suggesting a production of this industry during MIS 7 and the early part of MIS 6. The mean ages obtained for the samples associated with the Acheulo-Yabrudian (strengthened by an isochron analysis) indicate a production of this cultural complex ~250 ka ago, at the end of MIS 8. According to the Misliya TL dates, the transition from the Lower to the Middle Paleolithic in the site took place at the limit MIS 8/7 or during the early part of MIS 7. The dates, together with the pronounced differences in lithic technology strongly suggest the arrival of a new population during this period., (Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Published
2013
Full Text
View/download PDF

7. Inland human settlement in southern Arabia 55,000 years ago. New evidence from the Wadi Surdud Middle Paleolithic site complex, western Yemen.

Author

Delagnes A, Tribolo C, Bertran P, Brenet M, Crassard R, Jaubert J, Khalidi L, Mercier N, Nomade S, Peigné S, Sitzia L, Tournepiche JF, Al-Halibi M, Al-Mosabi A, and Macchiarelli R

Subjects
Arabia, Civilization, Humans, Yemen, Archaeology, Fossils
Abstract

The recovery at Shi'bat Dihya 1 (SD1) of a dense Middle Paleolithic human occupation dated to 55 ka BP sheds new light on the role of the Arabian Peninsula at the time of the alleged expansion of modern humans out of Africa. SD1 is part of a complex of Middle Paleolithic sites cut by the Wadi Surdud and interstratified within an alluvial sedimentary basin in the foothills that connect the Yemeni highlands with the Tihama coastal plain. A number of environmental proxies indicate arid conditions throughout a sequence that extends between 63 and 42 ka BP. The lithic industry is geared toward the production of a variety of end products: blades, pointed blades, pointed flakes and Levallois-like flakes with long unmodified cutting edges, made from locally available rhyolite. The occasional exploitation of other local raw materials, that fulfill distinct complementary needs, highlights the multi-functional nature of the occupation. The slightly younger Shi'bat Dihya 2 (SD2) site is characterized by a less elaborate production of flakes, together with some elements (blades and pointed flakes) similar to those found at SD1, and may indicate a cultural continuity between the two sites. The technological behaviors of the SD1 toolmakers present similarities with those documented from a number of nearly contemporaneous assemblages from southern Arabia, the Levant, the Horn of Africa and North Africa. However, they do not directly conform to any of the techno-complexes typical of the late Middle Paleolithic or late Middle Stone Age from these regions. This period would have witnessed the development of local Middle Paleolithic traditions in the Arabian Peninsula, which suggests more complex settlement dynamics and possible population interactions than commonly inferred by the current models of modern human expansion out of Africa., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Published
2012
Full Text
View/download PDF

8. Emergence of modern human behavior: Middle Stone Age engravings from South Africa.

Author

Henshilwood CS, d'Errico F, Yates R, Jacobs Z, Tribolo C, Duller GA, Mercier N, Sealy JC, Valladas H, Watts I, and Wintle AG

Subjects
Animals, Clay, Cognition, Humans, South Africa, Time, Aluminum Silicates, Archaeology, Behavior, Engraving and Engravings, Geologic Sediments, Hominidae
Abstract

In the Eurasian Upper Paleolithic after about 35,000 years ago, abstract or depictional images provide evidence for cognitive abilities considered integral to modern human behavior. Here we report on two abstract representations engraved on pieces of red ochre recovered from the Middle Stone Age layers at Blombos Cave in South Africa. A mean date of 77,000 years was obtained for the layers containing the engraved ochres by thermoluminescence dating of burnt lithics, and the stratigraphic integrity was confirmed by an optically stimulated luminescence age of 70,000 years on an overlying dune. These engravings support the emergence of modern human behavior in Africa at least 35,000 years before the start of the Upper Paleolithic.

Published
2002
Full Text
View/download PDF

9. Thermoluminescence dating of the late Neanderthal remains from Saint-Césaire.

Author

Mercier N, Valladas H, Joron JL, Reyss JL, Lévêque F, and Vandermeersch B

Subjects
Animals, Carbon Radioisotopes, France, Humans, Thermoluminescent Dosimetry, Time Factors, Anthropology, Archaeology, Hominidae
Abstract

Anatomically modern humans have long been thought to have been responsible for the Aurignacian and Châtelperronian industries of the early Upper Palaeolithic of Western Europe, whereas the Middle Palaeolithic Mousterian industry has been attributed to Neanderthals. The presence of both Middle and Upper Palaeolithic strata at Saint-Césaire in France offers an excellent opportunity for studying the cultural transition between the two. Saint-Césaire is the only Châtelperronian site that has yielded really diagnostic hominid fossils, and the discovery there of Neanderthal remains alongside Châtelperronian tools cast doubt on the exclusive association between industries and taxon. We report thermoluminescence dates for 20 burnt flints from the site. Those found near the Neanderthal remains were dated at 36,300 +/- 2,700 years BP (before present), making this specimen the youngest Neanderthal dated so far. This date places the stratum close in age to several French but much younger than some Spanish Aurignacian sites believed to have been occupied by modern humans. The possibility of contact between the West European Neanderthals and the intrusive modern humans who replaced them cannot therefore be excluded.

Published
1991
Full Text
View/download PDF

10. Valle Giumentina : stratigraphy and archaeology

Author

Elisa Nicoud, Aureli, D., Pagli, M., Villa, V., Chaussé, C., Fusco, F., Boschian, G., Ph Degeai, J., Agostini, S., J Bahain, J., Colonna, T., Giaccio, B., Hernandez, M., Kuzucuoglu, C., Christelle Lahaye, Lemorini, C., Limondin-Lozouet, N., Mazza, P., Mercier, N., Nomade, S., Pereira, A., Robert, V., Rossi, M. A., Clement Virmoux, Zupancich, A., Culture et Environnements, Préhistoire, Antiquité, Moyen-Age (CEPAM), Université Nice Sophia Antipolis (1965 - 2019) (UNS), COMUE Université Côte d'Azur (2015-2019) (COMUE UCA)-COMUE Université Côte d'Azur (2015-2019) (COMUE UCA)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Côte d'Azur (UCA), Laboratoire de géographie physique : Environnements Quaternaires et Actuels (LGP), Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (UP1)-Université Paris-Est Créteil Val-de-Marne - Paris 12 (UPEC UP12)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology [Leipzig], Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Université Clermont Auvergne [2017-2020] (UCA [2017-2020]), Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement [Gif-sur-Yvette] (LSCE), Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Université de Lille, Sciences et Technologies, Institut de Chimie de Strasbourg, Université de Strasbourg (UNISTRA)-Institut de Chimie du CNRS (INC)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Université Côte d'Azur (UCA)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Nice Sophia Antipolis (... - 2019) (UNS), COMUE Université Côte d'Azur (2015-2019) (COMUE UCA)-COMUE Université Côte d'Azur (2015-2019) (COMUE UCA), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ), and CEPAM, Labo

Subjects
[SHS.ARCHEO] Humanities and Social Sciences/Archaeology and Prehistory, [SHS.ARCHEO]Humanities and Social Sciences/Archaeology and Prehistory, Valle, stratigraphy, archaeology, Giumentina
Abstract

International audience; Valle Giumentina : stratigraphy and archaeology

Published
2016

11. The Rhafas Cave (Morocco): Chronology of the mousterian and aterian archaeological occupations and their implications for Quaternary geochronology based on luminescence (TL/OSL) age determinations

Author

Weiner, S., Goldberg, P., Meignen, L., Bar-Yosef, O., Belfer-Cohen, A., Chech, M., Kuhn, S.L., Stiner, M.C., Tillier, A.-M., Arensburg, B., Vandermeersch, B., Mercier, N., Wengler, L., Valladas, H., Joron, J.-L., Froget, L., Reyss, J.-L., Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement [Gif-sur-Yvette] (LSCE), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ), Géochrononologie Traceurs Archéométrie (GEOTRAC), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ), Océan et Interfaces (OCEANIS), Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), and Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)

Subjects
[SDU.OCEAN]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Ocean, Atmosphere, 010506 paleontology, geography, geography.geographical_feature_category, 060102 archaeology, Stratigraphy, Geology, Mousterian, 06 humanities and the arts, 01 natural sciences, Archaeology, Sequence (geology), Cave, Aterian, Geochronology, Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous), 0601 history and archaeology, Radiometric dating, [SDU.ENVI]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Continental interfaces, environment, Quaternary, ComputingMilieux_MISCELLANEOUS, 0105 earth and related environmental sciences, Chronology
Abstract

The Middle Palaeolithic chronology of the Maghreb region of North Africa is poorly known because of the paucity of sites with a long stratigraphy and the limited number of available radiometric dates. In this paper, we report the age-estimates obtained by the TL and OSL methods on sediments and burnt lithic samples from the Rhafas Cave in Eastern Morocco. Our results indicate that the Mousterian is largely earlier than 100 ka, that the latest Mousterian dates to OIS 5 between 90–80 ka and the Mousterian to Aterian transition occurred about 70–80 ka, at the end of OIS 5 or during OIS 4. These dates will be most useful in the construction of a chronological framework of this unique sequence and for the interpretation of paleoenvironmental information.

Published
2007

12. A multi-method luminescence dating of the Palaeolithic sequence of La Ferrassie based on new excavations adjacent to the La Ferrassie 1 and 2 skeletons

Author

Andrew S. Murray, Teresa E. Steele, Shannon P. McPherron, Jean-Jacques Hublin, Laurent Chiotti, Vera Aldeias, Norbert Mercier, Christelle Lahaye, Mayank Jain, Paul Goldberg, Marine Frouin, Alain Turq, Sahra Talamo, Guillaume Guérin, Stéphane Madelaine, Laurent Bruxelles, Dennis Sandgathe, Kristina Jørkov Thomsen, Harold L. Dibble, Bruno Maureille, IRAMAT-Centre de recherche en physique appliquée à l’archéologie (IRAMAT-CRP2A), Institut de Recherches sur les Archéomatériaux (IRAMAT), Université d'Orléans (UO)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Bordeaux Montaigne-Université de Technologie de Belfort-Montbeliard (UTBM)-Université d'Orléans (UO)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Bordeaux Montaigne-Université de Technologie de Belfort-Montbeliard (UTBM), Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art [Oxford], University of Oxford [Oxford], Université d'Orléans (UO)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Bordeaux Montaigne-Université de Technologie de Belfort-Montbeliard (UTBM), Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology [Leipzig], Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Travaux et recherches archéologiques sur les cultures, les espaces et les sociétés (TRACES), École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS)-Université Toulouse - Jean Jaurès (UT2J)-Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication (MCC)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), University of the Witwatersrand [Johannesburg] (WITS), Histoire naturelle de l'Homme préhistorique (HNHP), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Université de Perpignan Via Domitia (UPVD)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Archaeology Department, Boston University [Boston] (BU), University of Tübingen, Technical University of Denmark [Lyngby] (DTU), De la Préhistoire à l'Actuel : Culture, Environnement et Anthropologie (PACEA), Université de Bordeaux (UB)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Université de Technologie de Belfort-Montbeliard (UTBM)-Université d'Orléans (UO)-Université Bordeaux Montaigne-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Technologie de Belfort-Montbeliard (UTBM)-Université d'Orléans (UO)-Université Bordeaux Montaigne-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Université de Technologie de Belfort-Montbeliard (UTBM)-Université d'Orléans (UO)-Université Bordeaux Montaigne-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Université de Perpignan Via Domitia (UPVD), Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication (MCC)-École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS)-Université Toulouse - Jean Jaurès (UT2J)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Université de Perpignan Via Domitia (UPVD)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN), Guerin G., Frouin M., Talamo S., Aldeias V., Bruxelles L., Chiotti L., Dibble H.L., Goldberg P., Hublin J.-J., Jain M., Lahaye C., Madelaine S., Maureille B., McPherron S.J.P., Mercier N., Murray A.S., Sandgathe D., Steele T.E., Thomsen K.J., and Turq A.

Subjects
Archeology, [SHS.ARCHEO]Humanities and Social Sciences/Archaeology and Prehistory, OSL dating, Context (language use), Feldspar, law.invention, Paleontology, Archéologie, préhistoire, Single grain, law, Post-IR IRSL dating, Middle Palaeolithic, Radiocarbon dating, ComputingMilieux_MISCELLANEOUS, Thermoluminescence dating, Mousterian, Archaeology, visual_art, Châtelperronian, visual_art.visual_art_medium, datation par luminescence, Aurignacian, Geology, Chronology
Abstract

A new interdisciplinary project was initiated to excavate a portion of the Palaeolithic site of La Ferrassie left intact by earlier excavations. One of the aims of this project was to provide chronological information on the succession of Middle and Upper Palaeolithic layers, as well as on the skeletons unearthed by Capitan and Peyrony in the early 1900's. We report here preliminary results on the lithics, faunal remains, site formation processes, and on the stratigraphic context of the La Ferrassie 1 and 2 skeletons that were found adjacent to our excavations. Finally, results from luminescence dating of the sediments and a preliminary set of radiocarbon ages are presented. Quartz OSL, both at the multi-grain and single-grain levels of analysis, and post-IR IRSL of feldspar at various stimulation temperatures are compared. The quartz/feldspar comparison revealed a bleaching problem for the quartz OSL (and the feldspar pIRIR signals) from Layer 2; as a consequence, the age of this Layer was determined using a minimum age model. A Mousterian industry with bifaces, at the base of the sequence, has been dated between 91 ± 9 and 44 ± 3 ka. The Ferrassie Mousterian layers are attributed to MIS 3, between 54 ± 3 and 40 ± 2 ka, and thus appear very late in the final Middle Palaeolithic of the region; furthermore, these ages constrain the chronology of the La Ferrassie 1 and 2 skeletons, which have been attributed to one of these Ferrassie Mousterian layers. The Châtelperronian layer is dated to 42 ± 3 ka and the Aurignacian to 37 ± 2 ka. Implications of the ages for the La Ferrassie 1 and 2 skeletons, and for the variability of late Mousterian, are discussed.

Published
2015

13. Preliminary data from Valle Giumentina Pleistocene site (Abruzzo, Central Italy): A new approach to a Clactonian and Acheulian sequence

Author

Nicoud, Elisa, Aureli, Daniele, Pagli, Marina, Villa, Valentina, Chaussé, Christine, Agostini, Silvano, Bahain, Jean Jacques, Boschian, Giovanni, Degeai, Jean Philippe, Fusco, Fabio, Giaccio, Biagio, Hernandez, Marion, Kuzucuoglu, Catherine, Lahaye, Christelle, Lemorini, Cristina, Limondin-Lozouet, Nicole, Mazza, Paul, Mercier, Norbert, Nomade, Sébastien, Pereira, Alison, Robert, Vincent, Rossi, Maria Adelaide, Virmoux, Clément, Zupancich, Andrea, Ecole française de Rome (EFR), Università degli Studi di Siena = University of Siena (UNISI), Archéologies et Sciences de l'Antiquité (ArScAn), Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (UP1)-Université Paris Nanterre (UPN)-Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication (MCC)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Laboratoire de géographie physique : Environnements Quaternaires et Actuels (LGP), Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (UP1)-Université Paris-Est Créteil Val-de-Marne - Paris 12 (UPEC UP12)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institut National de Recherche et d'Analyse Physico-Chimique (INRAP), Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio del Molise, Histoire naturelle de l'Homme préhistorique (HNHP), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Perpignan Via Domitia (UPVD), University of Pisa - Università di Pisa, Archéologie des Sociétés Méditerranéennes (ASM), Université Paul-Valéry - Montpellier 3 (UPVM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Ministère de la Culture (MC), Istituto di Geologia Ambientale e Geoingegneria, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology [Leipzig], Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Institut de Recherches sur les Archéomatériaux (IRAMAT), Université de Technologie de Belfort-Montbeliard (UTBM)-Université d'Orléans (UO)-Université Bordeaux Montaigne-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Università degli Studi di Roma 'La Sapienza' = Sapienza University [Rome], Università degli Studi di Firenze = University of Florence [Firenze] (UNIFI), Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement [Gif-sur-Yvette] (LSCE), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ), Tel Aviv University [Tel Aviv], Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (UP1)-Université Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint-Denis (UP8)-Université Paris Nanterre (UPN)-Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication (MCC)-Institut national de recherches archéologiques préventives (Inrap)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Université de Perpignan Via Domitia (UPVD)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Istituto di Geologia Ambientale e Geoingegneria (IGAG), Università degli Studi di Roma 'La Sapienza' = Sapienza University [Rome] (UNIROMA), Università degli Studi di Firenze = University of Florence (UniFI), Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Anthropologie des techniques, des espaces et des territoires au Pliocène et au Pléistocène (AnTET), Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (UP1)-Université Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint-Denis (UP8)-Université Paris Nanterre (UPN)-Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication (MCC)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (UP1)-Université Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint-Denis (UP8)-Université Paris Nanterre (UPN)-Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication (MCC)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (UP1)-Université Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint-Denis (UP8)-Université Paris Nanterre (UPN)-Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication (MCC)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Ministère de la Culture (MC), National Research Council of Italy | Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Université de Technologie de Belfort-Montbeliard (UTBM)-Université d'Orléans (UO)-Université Bordeaux Montaigne (UBM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Tel Aviv University (TAU), Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (UP1)-Université Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint-Denis (UP8)-Université Paris Nanterre (UPN)-Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication (MCC)-Institut national de recherches archéologiques préventives (Inrap)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (UP1)-Université Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint-Denis (UP8)-Université Paris Nanterre (UPN)-Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication (MCC)-Institut national de recherches archéologiques préventives (Inrap)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Centre d'Études Préhistoire, Antiquité, Moyen-Age (CEPAM), Université Nice Sophia Antipolis (... - 2019) (UNS), COMUE Université Côte d'Azur (2015-2019) (COMUE UCA)-COMUE Université Côte d'Azur (2015-2019) (COMUE UCA)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Istituto di Geoscienze e Georisorse [Pisa], Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche [Pisa] (CNR PISA), Dipartimento di Scienze Archeologiche, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Paul-Valéry - Montpellier 3 (UPVM)-Ministère de la Culture (MC), nutrition clinique, CHU Clermont-Ferrand, Museo delle Origini [Roma], Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra [Firenze] (DST), Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM), Faculté de Médecine [Nancy], Université de Lorraine (UL), Paléocéanographie (PALEOCEAN), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ), Université de Lille, Sciences et Technologies, Laboratoire de Mécanique de Lille - FRE 3723 (LML), Université de Lille, Sciences et Technologies-Ecole Centrale de Lille-Université de Lille-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institut de Mécanique Céleste et de Calcul des Ephémérides (IMCCE), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Lille-Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC), Institut Polytechnique des Sciences Avancées (IPSA), Politecnico di Milano [Milan] (POLIMI), Nicoud E, Aureli D, Pagli M, Villa V, Chaussé C, Agostini S, Bahain JJ, Boschian G, Degeai JP, Fusco F, Giaccio B, Hernandez M, Kuzucuoglu C, Lahaye C, Lemorini C, Limondin-Lozouet N, Mazza P, Mercier N, Nomade S, Pereira A, Robert V, Rossi MA, Virmoux C, and Zupancich A

Subjects
010506 paleontology, Middle Pleistocene, Pleistocene, Stratigraphy, 01 natural sciences, Paleontology, Sequence (geology), Lithic technology, 0601 history and archaeology, Stratigraphy (archaeology), ComputingMilieux_MISCELLANEOUS, 0105 earth and related environmental sciences, Earth-Surface Processes, 060101 anthropology, Middle Pleistocene Stratigraphy Lithic technology Clactonian Italy, Clactonian, Italy, Excavation, 06 humanities and the arts, [SHS.GEO]Humanities and Social Sciences/Geography, Archaeology, Paleosol, Debitage, Geology
Abstract

International audience; Valle Giumentina is a Pleistocene open-air site in Central Italy (Abruzzo). Nine archaeological layers occur in the last 25 m of a 70 m thick sedimentary sequence. In the 1950s, the various archaeological layers were attributed to the Clactonian, Acheulian and Levalloisian traditions. Recent multidisciplinary fieldwork and studies (2012–2016) acquired new archaeological, chronostratigraphical and paleoenvironmental data. This contribution presents the preliminary results of the ongoing excavation of layer 42-ALB. This is a paleosol located at 4 m depth, at the top of a lacustrine deposit directly below the coarse deposits associated with the last major erosive event. Faunal remains consisted essentially by Cervus elaphus. The lithic series is characterized by a specific flake production system: only a part of the block is reduced, and platforms and surfaces are not prepared. Several methods are used, including the SSDA (système par surfaces de débitage alternées). Backed flakes are frequent. Numerous blanks are transformed by intensive or marginal retouch. Functional objectives are multiple, as shown by different tool structures and use-wear traces. Valle Giumentina 42-ALB is a butchery site used briefly but frequently during warmer substages occurring during an overall cold period. The “Clactonian” industry of Valle Giumentina is often considered as simple or expedient: we demonstrate its real technical complexity and its functional significance. Comparisons are made with other European sites.

Published
2015

Catalog

Books, media, physical & digital resources
See catalog results