International audienc

The recent discovery (2009) and excavation of the open-air site of Ormesson (Seine-et-Marne e France) was initially intended to document a Gravettian occupation floor dated around 29,000 cal. BP and related to a preferential bison hunt. Whilst checking the thickness of the loess in which the Gravettian level was found, several other prehistoric settlements were discovered (Chatelperronian, Middle Solutrean) including two units attributed to the Middle Palaeolithic. One, level 4, seems to be particularly wellpreserved. It occurs between 1 and 3 m below the main Upper Palaeolithic occupation. The lithic industry from level 4 belongs to a single kind of reduction sequence: the Discoid method. The freshness of the material and the presence of bone fragments attributed in part to horse support a general good state of preservation of this occupation. The Mousterian remains seem to cover at least 500 m 2 , as currently estimated. Even more exceptional is the close spatial relationship between the discoid industry, the bone pieces, remains of fireplaces and especially the numerous fragments and nodules of red colouring materials. These were brought to the site where they were utilised by the Mousterians. The used surfaces show indisputable scraping traces and facets. These recent discoveries will certainly contribute to the debate on the cognitive capacities of nearly the last representatives of the Middle Palaeolithic, and the complex stratigraphy will allow comparisons between the different periods.

Base de données des structures périglaciaires pléistocènes en France : description de la version accessible en ligne

This paper reports the results of new malacological analyses from a thick tufa sequence at Direndall (Luxembourg). The study is temporally contextualised with radiocarbon dates and an age–depth model. The malacological study focuses on species associations to reconstruct palaeoenvironmental developments. The gradual appearance of several shade-demanding species reflects the expansion of forest environments during the early Holocene. After c. 7.5 cal. kyr BP, three phases of maximal expansion of shade-demanding species are interspersed with two phases of decline of these taxa dated between c. 7.1 and 6.5 cal. kyr BP and between c. 3.5 and 2.4 cal. kyr BP. Malacological data are discussed with previously published calcite stable isotope data from the same sequence. Strong correlations between malacological data and δ13C profile are highlighted over the whole sequence. Combined influences of local environmental conditions and regional climatic trends are emphasised. The sequence provides a palaeoenvironmental succession free of any anthropic influence.

Les Bossats site at Ormesson, in addition to its Badegoulian, Solutrean, Gravettian and Mousterian levels, has also delivered a Châtelperronian occupation over a large area, in the form of a thin layer and whose integrity has not suffered from mixtures, or to a very limited extent, with older or newer layers. This occupation has been excavated in two test-pits, test-pits 3 and 50 of respectively 16 and 2 square meters, but with an estimated surface area of 150 square meters. This level already delivers a certain amount of information concerning the lithic industry but also the colouring materials, already present at Ormesson in the Mousterian level, as well as on animal and vegetable resources. If in the years to come efforts are directed towards the exploitation of the younger levels, we plan an extensive excavation of the Châtelperronian in 4 to 5 years. In the meantime, this article is intended as a first presentation of this new Châtelperronian occupation, the northernmost one known at the present time. But it also lays down a certain number of milestones concerning the characteristics of the lithic industry, especially the