Cetacean mass strandings occur regularly worldwide, yet the compounded effects of natural and anthropogenic factors often complicate our understanding of these phenomena. Evidence of past stranding episodes may, thus, be essential to establish the potential influence of climate change. Investigations on bones from the site of Grotta dell’Uzzo in North West Sicily (Italy) show that the rapid climate change around 8,200 years ago coincided with increased strandings in the Mediterranean Sea. Stable isotope analyses on collagen from a large sample of remains recovered at this cave indicate that Mesolithic hunter-gatherers relied little on marine resources. A human and a red fox dating to the 8.2-kyr-BP climatic event, however, acquired at least one third of their protein from cetaceans. Numerous carcasses should have been available annually, for at least a decade, to obtain these proportions of meat. Our findings imply that climate-driven environmental changes, caused by global warming, may represent a serious threat to cetaceans in the near future.

International audienceThe Gombore II site dates to circa the Brunhes Matuyama Reversal and is one of the Acheulean localities of the Melka Kunture (Upper Awash, Ethiopia) archaeological complex, known since the 1970s. In 2001, this locality was selected as the site for an Open Air Museum and thus excavated. The excavation area has yielded an abundant Acheulean lithic assemblage manufactured on volcanic raw materials in close association with numerous paleontological remains. A technological analysis was carried out on a fraction of the bifacial tools (bifaces and cleavers) which could be temporarily removed from the displayed surface in the museum. This set of artefacts reveals new data about the bifacial shaping strategies adopted at the beginning of the Middle Pleistocene in Ethiopia. The use of obsidian and the systematic manufacturing of twisted bifaces are original features of the assemblage. These data are discussed in the framework of penecontemporaneous East African sites.Gomboré II est un des sites acheuléens du complexe préhistorique de Melka Kunture (Haut Awash, Ethiopie), connu depuis les années 70, et se place aux environs de la limite Brunhes-Matuyama. En 2001, ce site fut choisi pour implanter un musée de site et des fouilles furent alors organisées. La zone fouillée a livré un abondant outillage lithique acheuléen manufacturé sur roches volcaniques, étroitement associé à de nombreux restes paléontologiques. L'analyse technologique du matériel n'a pu être conduite que sur une fraction des outils bifaciaux (bifaces et hachereaux), temporairement extraite de la surface de fouille préservée dans le musée. L'étude de ces artefacts apporte de nouvelles données sur les stratégies de façonnage adoptées par les hominidés au début du Pléistocène moyen en Ethiopie. L'usage de l'obsidienne et la fabrication systématique de bifaces “twist” confèrent un aspect original à cette série. Les données sont replacées dans le contexte contemporain est-africain