A Middle Paleolithic/Pleistocene Stratified Sequence at Coussey/Sionne in the Meuse Alluvial Valley (Vosges, France)

Abstract

The stratified Middle Paleolithic site of Coussey in Lorraine (Vosges, France) was discovered in 2014 in trial trenching during rescue archaeology. The site, located at the confluence between the Saonelle and the Meuse rivers, is dominated by the corallian calcareous ledge of the Hauts de Meuse, spreading generally towards the west from the river channel. The local geological context is characterized by recent alluvial formations and the Woëvre clays. Oxfordian chert deposits rich in chalcedonian concretions are documented in the surrounding hills. Field observations of this sequence, situated at the bottom of the slope, showed more than 2 m of thick loamy clayey colluvium deposits from the mixed alluvial sediment of the flood plain. Solifluction of surrounding slopes occurring in the Late Glacial and Holocene periods allowed the preservation of a 2 m thick pedosedimentological sequence including a humus horizon. The 82 lithic artifacts did not allow a more precise chrono-cultural dating other than Middle Paleolithic. Lithics were the only preserved finds, distributed within several archaeological levels and occurring with varying states of preservation. They were recovered on 2 ha of the 8 ha of the surface surveyed. Paleolithic peoples seem to have benefited from the immediate proximity of good quality Oxfordian chert outcrops (chert of Neuchâteau). The preservation of these stratified levels from the Pleistocene has made the Coussey site a major discovery from the Lorraine region, filling a gap in our archaeological documentation of northeast France.