Données inédites sur le Quaternaire et le Paléolithique du Nord de la France

Abstract

Since more than fifteen years, deep test pits and small archaeological excavations, led in rescue archaeology context, have allowed the discovery of pleistocene human occupation remains. Fifteen occupation layers have been discovered, fit in a reliable chronostratigraphical context. They can be ranger from the isotopic marine stage 14 or 13 to 2, either from 550 000 to 12 000 years before present. They enhance the dataset of the knowledges of peopling modalities of north-west Europe during the Palaeolithic.

Fossils from Quaternary fluvial archives: Sources of biostratigraphical, biogeographical and palaeoclimatic evidence

“…At Rue Boileau in Amiens, a sequence exposed in a pit adjacent to the famous site of Saint Acheul includes a white silt horizon that has been correlated on morphostratigraphical grounds with the Saint Acheul tufa; the latter has been dated to MIS 11 on the basis of a characteristic 'Lyrodiscus assemblage' of land snails, supported by U/Th dating (Limondin-Lozouet and . The molluscan fauna from Rue Boileau contains several critical species typical of this assemblage, together with several xerophilous taxa (Cernuella virgata, Candidula unifasciata) previously unknown from St Acheul (Locht et al, 2013). This assemblage has therefore been tentatively attributed to a later phase of the interglacial, post-dating the climatic optimum, when heavily-forested environments were being replaced by more open habitats characterised by xerophilous land snails (Limondin-Lozouet et al, 2015).…”

“…Recent archaeological rescue excavations in the Somme valley have led to the discovery of several alluvial sequences containing molluscan faunas (Locht et al, 2013). At Rue Boileau in Amiens, a sequence exposed in a pit adjacent to the famous site of Saint Acheul includes a white silt horizon that has been correlated on morphostratigraphical grounds with the Saint Acheul tufa; the latter has been dated to MIS 11 on the basis of a characteristic 'Lyrodiscus assemblage' of land snails, supported by U/Th dating (Limondin-Lozouet and .…”

“…This site is only the second to provide evidence of Neanderthal occupation during the Eemian in Northern France. Finally, the late MIS fluvial sequence at Ailly-sur-Noye, located ~30 km south of Amiens, includes three Palaeolithic levels (Locht et al, 2013). The oldest lithic industries and associated mammals (Bos primigenius, Equus sp.)…”

Levallois points and triangular flakes during the Middle Palaeolithic in northwestern Europe: Considerations on the status of these pieces in the Neanderthal hunting toolkit in northern France

“…The climate, the environment and the animal communities are generally characteristic of the "mammoth steppe" (Guthrie, 1982). Ten sites in northern France are currently correlated to MIS 4 and 3 and two of these contain triangular flakes [Attilly (Locht et al, 2013a) and Beauvais (Locht et al, 1995;Locht, 2004)]. No Levallois points have been recorded (Table 1 and Fig.…”

“…No less than 16 occupation levels with Levallois points and/or triangular flakes have been recorded. These are occupation levels of: Gouy-Saint-Andr e (Depaepe and Deschodt, 2001), Bettencourt-Saint-Ouen (levels N2b and N1, Locht dir., 2002), Riencourt-les-Bapaume (levels CA and C12), Tuffreau, 1993;Goval and H erisson, 2006), Blangy-Tronville (Depaepe et al, 1999), Fresnoy-au-Val (series 1, Goval and Locht, 2009), Revelles « les terres Sellier » (Locht et al, 2013a), VillersBretonneux (series SHS, Depaepe et al, 1997), Mauquenchy (series WAII, Locht et al, 2013b), Chavignon (Sellier, 2015), Auteuil (Swinnen et al, 1996;Koehler, 2012), and Courmelles (Sellier and Coutard, 2007) [ Table 1 and Fig. 2].…”