Menez-Dregan (Plouhinec, far western Europe): The lithic industry from layer 7 and its Acheulean components

Abstract

International audienceThe Lower Palaeolithic site of Menez-Dregan I (Plouhinec, Finistere), located in Brittany at the very tip of western Europe, has been under excavation since 1991. It is an ancient marine cave where the roof has gradually collapsed, and hence partly protected the archaeological living floors from erosion. The fauna has not been preserved due to the acidic environment at the site, leaving only the lithic industry to show the living style of the human groups who settled there and, notably, mastered the very early lighting/control of fire in late MIS 13 or early MIS 12. Recent digging of layer 7 has provided a lithic assemblage comparable to that of the upper layers at the site and is representative of the Colombanian techno-typological facies. This Lower Palaeolithic industry is contemporary with the Acheulean but differs from it as the heavy-duty tools are mostly cobble tools (choppers). The raw materials used were directly collected from the site itself or from the surrounding pebble beaches; from this stage of collection the use of two chaines operatoires is clearly evident. The flint pebbles/cobbles are preferentially used for flake production. In most of the cases the "SSDA-Clactonian" (systeme par surface de debitage alternee) method is applied providing flakes with wide striking platforms seldom facetted, prominent bulbs and open angled ventral faces; sometimes flakes are produced by percussion on anvil; they are never Levallois. The small tool kit mainly includes denticulates and notches with a few scrapers. The heavy-duty tools mostly comprised of various types of choppers are shaped on larger cobbles selected for their rather flat, often elongated shape and for their homogenous nature sandstone or microgranite). This paper presents some specimens yielded by layer 7; although few, they are typical and definitely akin to the Acheulean techno-typological facies, especially two cleavers made on flakes (quartzite and microgranite), and two bifacial tools roughly shaped on cobbles (sandstone and quartzite), with a third one from the top of the underlying layer 8. These findings revive the question of the relationship between the Acheulean and the Colombanian. Moreover the position of the site in a setting where the natural rocks are available in the form of pebbles/cobbles, flint only as small pebbles, questions the influence of raw material on technical traditions. This provides arguments for understanding the Lower Palaeolithic variability and contributes to the debate on the definition of Acheulean

Two-stage mid-Brunhes climate transition and mid-Pleistocene human diversification

“…Levallois-like artefacts developed within MIS 12-9 in both Africa and Europe (Monnier, 2006;Hublin, 2009;Porat et al, 2010;Adler et al, 2014;Hublin et al, 2017;Richter et al, 2017;Potts et al, 2018;Moncel et al, 2020), which are markedly more technologically complex relative to the previous Lower Palaeolithic tools (including handaxes) and were probably more J o u r n a l P r e -p r o o f efficient for hunting (Ambrose, 2010). The control and use of fire also becomes clearer in archaeological records from ∼400 ka onward (Preece et al, 2006;Roebroeks and Villa, 2011;Ravon et al, 2016;Daura et al, 2017;Davis and Ashton, 2019), while the processing of hides for clothing and shelter may also have become widespread (Voormolen, 2008;Ashton, 2015). More persistent use of caves could also have facilitated the first regular construction of shelters (Olle et al, 2016;Ravon, 2018), leading to a growing recognition of place, space, and perhaps territories, which is critical for the structuring and operation of societies (Ashton, 2018;Ravon, 2018;Scott and Shaw, 2018).…”

Evidence for Earlier Stone Age ‘coastal use’: The site of Dungo IV, Benguela Province, Angola

“…In fact, the southern African record shows a gradual intensification of coastal activities by humans with: hominin dispersals in the coastal plain during the Early Pleistocene [59], an integration of coastal resources in ESA hominin territories at least by 600 ka (such as in the Benguela Province), the occasional consumption of marine resources from the end of the Middle Pleistocene-or even before by scavenging stranded carcasses [178]-and, an intensification of coastal resource foraging from MIS 5 [17] and particularly at the end of the Pleistocene [19]. Concurrently, similar trends occurred in other parts of the world, such as the development of marine resource foraging by Neanderthal groups from MIS5 [280][281][282], Early Pleistocene coastal dispersals in North Africa [273] and early Middle Pleistocene coastal raw material exploitation in the Early Paleolithic of the Britany coast in France [283][284][285]. Consequently we concur with our colleagues [26], who argue for a revisiting of the hypothesis claiming the southern African coastal environment acted as a pulse for the emergence and development of modern behaviors and Homo sapiens.…”

Flake tools in the European Lower Paleolithic: A case study from MIS 9 Britain

“…Table 10 Here Menez-Dregan in Brittany has deposits dating from MIS 12 to 8. Due to the rarity of handaxes it is one of several sites that were termed 'Colombanian', but are now regarded as a local expression of the Acheulean , with the low numbers (sometimes absence) of handaxes being attributed to the difficulty of working local raw material and the variable use of the cave (Monnier and Molines, 1993;Ravon et al, 2016aRavon et al, , b, 2022Ravon, 2019), Similar to the British record the flake tools generally consist of ad hoc modifications to flake edges and are dominated by denticulates with lower quantities of notches and scrapers. While layers 9 to 7 (MIS 12-10) have higher proportions of flake tools (1.7-6.2%), there is a significant drop in the proportion in layers 6 to 5a (0.8-2.8%), which date to MIS 9 (Table 10).…”