Site settlement patterns during MIS 3 in the Southeast of France. The lithic assemblages of two phases of occupation (levels 4.1 and 4.2) at the Abri du Maras

Abstract

New excavations at the Abri du Maras have revealed a thick sequence over 250 ka old with evidence of recurrent human occupations, first in a vast cavity, then in a collapsed shelter. The upper part, with a high density of material, is dated to MIS 3 with two distinct phases of occupation under a shelter. The lithic component is composed mainly of flint cores, flakes and flake-tools, associated with local material in quartz, quartzite and basalt. Lithic refits and the faunal corpus indicate short-term occupations under a largely collapsed shelter. The comparison of the two occupation phases indicates common features in term of core technologies, with partial reduction sequences and a tool kit composed of large products brought to the site from a 30 km perimeter. Slight differences emerge from a statistic viewpoint, but also in terms of site activities, raw material collection and the spatial distribution of activities and material in the shelter. These include: (1) the predominance of reindeer in level 4.1 whereas there is a more diversified corpus of hunted herbivores in level 4.2, (2) the spatial distribution of the material indicates that the shelter was used in different ways, (3) the ratio of the use of Levallois core technology, of elongated products and flake-tools differs between the two levels, as does the average size of flint products. Finally, we discuss possible biases in order to define the actual status of the site.