L’industrie lithique des gisements du Pléistocène inférieur de Barranco León et Fuente Nueva 3 à Orce, Grenade, Espagne

The archaeological localities of Barranco León and Fuente Nueva 3 in Orce, Grenade, in actuality have the oldest lithic artifacts in Europe; they are the oldest evidence of human occupation in the east of Europe. When compared the results from faunal analysis and magnetostratigraphical study, notably through the presence of Allophaiomys lavocati allow for a date of around 1.3 Ma. The raw material used for developing these lithic industries are, basically limestone or siliceous rocks, these raw materials selected were smoothed down in situ. The techniques used are knapping at raised with a hammerstone, and we can find all the different elements of the “chaine opératoire”. Both localities are characterised by the predominance of flakes and debris, cores, and some knapped cobbles sowing mediocre aspect. The technical and typological features of both lithic assemblages have an opportunist character but they are relatively sophisticated too.     

Variabilité et homogénéité des modes de débitage en Chine entre 300 000 et 50 000 ans

The position of lithic industries of Chinese Paleolithic in comparison with those of other regions in the world is always a controversial topic. The typological analysis has made Chinese prehistorians reveal some variability between lithic industries of different regions of China in terms of technical tradition and industrial structure. But this recognition, based upon some morphological characters of stone artifacts, failed to define systematically the modes of production that exist in each site. To answer these problematic some new methods need to be applied. So the lithic materials from 8 Chinese sites dated from 300 ka to 50 ka B.P. were selected and analyzed by means of lithic technological analysis and a new approach for analyzing the structures of cores. This paper presents principally the analytical results of modes of débitage and revealed that the modes of débitage during this period were characterized essentially by system C (“simple débitage”) and E (discoid) and that the concept Levallois was absent during this period in technical systems of lithic production in China. The Chinese lithic industries between 300 ka and 50 ka B.P. saw some homogeneity in the scale of the continent and remarkable difference from those of other regions in the world. So a stable, continuous but independent even isolated evolution in comparison with those of other regions was observed in this period. In addition, despite of apparent homogeneity, some variability exists also between these industries.     

Nature des roches et aires d’approvisionnement en matière première des industries lithiques archaïques des premiers habitants de l’Europe. Exploitation des territoires

The archaic lithic industries of Barranco León and Fuente Nueva sites in Orce in Andalusia and the stone tools of the Vallonnet french site was studied by petroarcheological analyses and reveal the sources exploited by the hominids. The localisation of these sources give data to define the territory exploited. These three examples provide the opportunity to assess the raw material selectivity, the behaviour and the territory occupation system of the first inhabitants of Europe. These lithic industries are composed by local raw material collected very close to the site or even on the site. These sources were probably an important argument on choosing the occupation site.     

Les industries lithiques préoldowayennes du début du Pléistocène inférieur du site de Dmanissi en Géorgie

The lithic industry discovered at the Dmanissi site, in Georgia is dated to between 1.81 and 1.7 Myrs and is in association with a rich faunal assemblage composed of large Quaternary vertebrates, as well as several hominid fossils attributed to Homo georgicus, and attests to the human presence on the border of Europe at the beginning of the Lower Pleistocene. The material taken into account in this study was excavated from 1991 to 1999 and comprises 4446 lithic pieces coming from Beds I through VI of the site. The assemblage is very homogenous from the base to the top of the deposits and shows no significative evolutionary tendencies. The lithic material includes a high proportion of whole pebbles (33.8% of the assemblage) coming from two nearby rivers, the Mashavera and the Pinezaouri. They are essentially of fine and coarse grained volcanic tuff, basalt, but also of rhyolite, granite, quartz, as well as other volcanic and metamorphic rocks. Pebbles used for percussion, shaping or debitage were chosen according to their petrographic nature, their morphology and their size. Whole pebbles with percussion marks situated on their extremities or with isolated removals showing convexe edges, are abundant (1.3% of the assemblage). Other pebbles showing percussion marks on a flat face, were used as anvils. Broken pebbles and pebble fragments are very numerous (30.4% of the assemblage). These often show percussion marks on their cortical surfaces. Fractures are generally related to violent percussion as the pebbles were used for striking instruments, or as they were intentionally broken. Some fractures may have been caused accidentally during flaking. Pebble tools represent 4.8% of the lithic assemblage and 10% of the industry, excluding whole and fractured pebbles. These include essentially the primary choppers (pebbles with isolated concave removal negatives) (6% of the industry and 60.1% of the pebble tools), choppers showing continuous cutting edges without a point (2.1% of the industry and 21.2% of the pebble tools). Chopping-tools are very rare (0.8% of the industry and 8.7% of the pebble tools). Although choppers without pointed cutting edges were made using very few removals (3.3 on average), they usually present a regular cutting edge and seem relatively standardised. Cores are well represented (5% of the industry, excluding whole and broken pebbles). They are characterized by a low degree of exploitation and by a frequence of cortical striking platforms. Cored knapped on a single face are most frequent, representing nearly half of the pieces (42.3%), while bifacial cores are present in smaller proportions (34.2%) and multifacial cores are rare (6.3%). Non-modified flakes are very numerous and usually of small size and intentional retouch is absent. On the other hand, the cuttingedges of many the pieces; broken pebbles, pebble tools, cores and flakes, show irregular micro-retouch and irregular retouch such as isolated notches or with continuous or overlapping configuration, sometimes associated with localised crush marks which appear to have been caused by intensive use and heavy working of the pieces. A total of 31.3% of the non-modified flakes show irregular retouch on their cutting edges. One of the main characteristics of the Dmanissi industry appears therefore to be the obtaining of flakes, most often of small size, to be used without modification. The technological and typological characteristics of the lithic industry from Dmanissi allow to attribute the assemblage to a "Pre-Oldowayen" cultural horizon (Lumley de et al., 2004), characterized by the absence of small retouched tools, which appears in East Africa from 2.55 Myrs ago. This cultural horizon is present at the border of Europe, at Dmanissi, around 1.81 Myrs ago and in Western Europe, on the shores of the Mediterranean, at Barranco León about 1.3 Myrs ago and at Fuente Nueva 3 about 1.2 Myrs ago. The lithic industry from the Dmanissi site seems anterior to the Oldowan cultural horizon, characterized by the presence of standardized small retouched tools, which appears in East Africa around 1.8 Myrs ago and emerges in Mediterranean Europe around 800?000 years ago.     

How do stone knappers predict and control the outcome of flaking? Implications for understanding early stone tool technology

The aim of the current study was to provide detailed data on the skill at controlling conchoidal fracture, data that may be used to help infer the processes responsible for generating the technological diversity observed in Early Stone Age sites. We conducted an experiment with modern stone knappers with different skill levels and systematically analyzed not only the products of flaking (i.e., detached flakes) but also the intentions prior to flaking, as well as the actions taken to control the shape of a flake through direct hard-hammer percussion. Only modern stone knappers with extensive knapping experience proved capable of predicting and controlling the shape of a flake, which indicated the significant difficulty of controlling the shape of flakes. Evidence was found that knowing the consequence of a strike given to a core at hand requires the acute exploration of the properties of the core and hammerstone to comply with the higher-order relationship among potential platform variables, kinetic energy of the hammerstone at impact, and flake dimension that reflects the constraints of conchoidal fracture. We argue that without this ability, controlling the shape of a flake or the organized débitage of flakes observed in some of the Early Stone Age sites may not have been possible. We further suggest that, given the difficulty and the nature of the skill, the evidence of precise control of conchoidal fracture in the Early Stone Age record may be indicative of the recurrence of a learning situation that allows the transmission of the skill, possibly through providing the opportunities for first-hand experience.     

The Vallonnet cave on the northern Mediterranean border: A record of one of the oldest human presences in Europe

Prehistoric sites testifying to human presence older than one million years in Europe are rare, and in the current state of knowledge, the oldest of them have been dated to around 1.4–1.5 Ma. The Vallonnet cave at Roquebrune-Cap-Martin in the Alpes-Maritimes, on the Mediterranean border, is one of the oldest sites in France to have yielded evidence of human activity: a lithic assemblage of about a hundred pieces and traces of butchery on bones of an Epivillafranchian fauna. The archaeological levels of this small cave were recently dated between 1.1 and 1.2 Ma by U-Pb correlated with paleomagnetic data. The site was occupied alternately by large carnivores that used it as a den or a lair, and by hominins that stayed there briefly in bivouac. The lithic remains are mainly percussion tools, shaped pebbles, flakes and cores, whose raw materials are local, or even semi-local, and on the whole not very diversified with mainly limestone, and to a lesser extent sandstone, quartzite, flint and quartz. This assemblage is attributed to a Mode 1 technology (Oldowayen), among which macro-tools (hammerstones, shaped and fractured pebbles) are found alongside rarer elements resulting from debitage operating chains aimed at producing sharp-edged flakes, very rarely retouched. The bipolar-on-anvil flaking technique could be identified from the characteristics of some artifacts. Several refitting flakes on shaped pebbles or percussion tools attest to knapping and percussion activities in the cave. Hominins consumed the remains of large herbivore carcasses, as attested by the presence of cutting and fracturing marks on some bones. The presence of a freshwater source in the immediate vicinity, and the knapping and butchering activities here therefore document the subsistence behavior of Lower Pleistocene human groups, certainly in competition with the carnivores present.     

洛南花石浪龙牙洞1995年出土石制品研究

1995─1997年,经过连续3年对洛南盆地花石浪龙牙洞遗址的发掘,获得20余种哺乳动物、鸟类和水生动物化石以及包括人类生活踩踏面、灰烬层、烧石、烧骨和77000余件石制品在内的大量的人类文化遗迹和遗物。本文是1995年度龙牙洞内顶部扰动层及第4层上部出土的18608件各类石制品的阶段性研究成果。研究结果显示石制品是以中小型石片和简单的石片工具为代表的旧石器时代早期文化,而龙牙洞是一处内涵丰富的早期人类居住类型遗址。     

Les cultures moustériennes en Ligurie italienne : analyse du matériel lithique de trois sites en grotte

Multidisciplinary studies realized these last years about cave sites of Madonna dell’Arma, Arma delle Manie and Santa Lucia superiore, in italian Liguria, have stated precisely the conditions of neandertalian frequentations of those sites, placing at intervals, according to the cases, from isotopic stage five to the beginning of stage three. The mousterian industries recovered in those sites, associated with a lot of faunal remains, are here analyzed about the different stratigraphic levels in each site. In Madonna dell’Arma and Arma delle Manie, those industries show a certain constancy in the different levels, about technological and typological point of view or about raw material management. In Santa Lucia superiore, on the contrary, two different types of occupation have let lithical vestiges with different facies in lower levels and above levels. For the three sites, the analysis of the raw material management shows an essentially local supplying, but also some origins much more far like in the case of the jasper. This carrying of distant stones reveals us one aspect of the mobility or at least the territories extension that were able to apprehend those neandertalian human groups in Liguria region and beyond also. Otherwise, some preferential choices for certain raw materials were done by knappers for the débitage or for the small retouched tool supports. The flaking technics are identified in each site and certain regularities have been stated, like the high frequency of Levallois flaking in the different levels (also external levels) of Madonna dell’Arma site that is not the case in the two other sites.     

L’industrie lithique du site Pléistocène inférieur de Pirro Nord (Apricena, Italie du sud) : une occupation humaine entre 1,3 et 1,7 Ma

The site of Pirro Nord (also known as Cava Pirro or Cava Dell’Erba) is known in literature since the 1970's of the last century as a palaeontological site, of which the mammalian fossil association constitutes a reference (local) fauna for the European latest Villafranchian. This fossil association is also known for the occurrence of some African elements. During the 2005, a lithic industry has been found in three karst fissures, together with the typical elements of the Pirro Nord vertebrate assemblage. The biochronological assessment based on the vertebrate assemblage attributes it to a time interval bracketed between 1.3 Ma and 1.7 Ma. Thus the site of Pirro Nord represents the oldest human occupation of Europe so far known. The lithic assemblage, attributable to the Mode 1, is constituted by three cores and seven flakes, and is made only on flint. Lithic artefacts have been found in stratigraphic context during the preliminary surveys of the three fissures, that they will be the object of systematic excavations in the years to come.     

Ammotragus europaeus : une nouvelle espèce de Caprini (Bovidae, Mammalia) du Pléistocène inférieur à la grotte du Vallonnet (France)

Ammotragus europaeus: a new species of Caprini (Bovidae, Mammalia) from the Early Pleistocene site of Vallonnet (France). A new species of the genus Ammotragus is described from the assemblage III of Vallonnet cave (Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, Alpes-Maritimes, France). These remains were interpreted as Ovis, but the re-study of the dental collection from the site and a first study of a partial braincase with the basal internal region of the horn-core pedicels, the parietals, the temporals, and the basisphenoid bones, show anatomical differences with the Caprini genera Ovis, Capra, and Hemitragus and the Ovibovini genus Soergelia. At the opposite, anatomical similarities of the Vallonnet material to the extant North-African Caprini genus Ammotragus are observed. The age of Vallonnet cave is dated by palaeomagnetic techniques at about 1.0 Ma. Teeth remains similar to the Vallonnet species have been found at Fuente Nueva-3 (Orce, Andalusia, Spain). To cite this article: P.-É. Moullé et al., C. R. Palevol 3 (2004).     

Découverte d’une industrie du Paléolithique inférieur en bordure de la commune de Nice,au Vallon obscur à Saint-Isidore

An archaic lithic assemblage has just been brought to light in border of the municipality of Nice (Alpes-Maritimes, France), in secondary position in a geologic context of middle fluviatile terrace in left bank of the Var. Lithic artefacts collected gather some shaping products (worked or broken pebbles) and débitage products (cores, flakes, angular fragments), obtained on pebbles mainly in marly limestone, stemming from the local plio-Pleistocene conglomerate and the alluviums of the Var. This lithic production shows essentially the beginnings of chaînes opératoires, with the first phases of pebbles cortex removing. Flakes are very mainly cortical or semi-cortical, and cores reveal a weak technical investment, with a reduced enough number of removal negatives. The débitage of orthogonal type is the most frequent, and the bipolar technique on anvil is attested. Some rare flakes are retouched by notches or by abrupt continuous retouches. The sector where was brought to light this lithic industry, in sediments reshaped below a level of fluviatile terrace of the Var in 70 m of height, made us suggest a very ancient age for these vestiges, being able to go back up at the beginning of Middle Pleistocene, even of Lower Pleistocene, what is in agreement with the technical characteristics noticed on this lithic assemblage.     

Réévaluation de la présence humaine au Pléistocène inférieur dans le Sud de l'Espagne

The Early Pleistocene locality at Venta Micena (Orce, Guadix-Baza basin, province of Granada, Spain) has provided four fossil remains - skull fragment VM-0, and long bone diaphyses VM-1960, VM-3691, and VM-12000 - which have been tentatively attributed to the hominids. Although several methodologies have been used to ascertain the human affinities of these specimens - including anatomical, morphometric and immunological analyses - the results obtained have not been conclusive, instigating a persistent debate. A taphonomic approach is used here for estimating the probability that a taxon the size of Homo sp. (~ 50 kg) could be represented in the fossil assemblage by four bone fragments and no tooth remain. A least-squares regression analysis between the percentage of teeth and the body mass estimated for each taxon of large mammals (N = 20) predicts a raw abundance of six teeth for Homo sp. in the assemblage. Given that up to the present moment no tooth remains attributable to the hominids has been unearthed during systematic excavations in the Venta Micena quarry, which has provided more than 15,000 fossils of large mammals, this argues strongly against the possibility that the three bone specimens could belong to Homo sp. The phalanx CV-0 from the Early Pleistocene site of Cueva Victoria (Cartagena, Spain) has also been attributed to the genus Homo. The taxonomic assignment of this specimen is biased, however, because it was not compared with Theropithecus oswaldi, the only primate species actually recorded from this karstic locality. A comparative anatomical and morphometric analysis of fossil and modern specimens of Theropithecus suggests that CV-0 can be attributed to T. oswaldi. As a result, Cueva Victoria does not contribute additional information concerning the first human settlements in Europe. By these reasons, apart from the paleoanthropological and archaeological findings from Atapuerca (TD lower levels and Sima del Elefante), the rich archaeological assemblages from Barranco León and Fuente Nueva-3 in Orce, dated 1.3-1.2 Myrs, which include fourteen hundred stone tools of Oldowan technology, constitute at present the only unequivocal evidence of human presence in Southeast Spain during Early Pleistocene times.     

Restes humains dans les sédiments du Pléistocène inférieur de la région d'Orce et de Cueva Victoria (sud-est de l'Espagne)

This paper describes the human remains and other evidence of human presence (lithic artifacts) located in the early Pleistocene deposits of Orce and Cueva Victoria (SE Spain). We also discuss the age of those sites.     

La limite Oligocène-Miocène en Limagne : changements fauniques chez les mammifères, oiseaux et ostracodes des différents niveaux de Billy-Créchy (Allier, France)

The lacustrine sequence of Billy-Créchy (Allier) yielded four superposed fossiliferous levels that can be precisely dated for the first time and represent the upper part of the Oligocene and the basis of the Miocene. The age of the localities is given by mammals and particularly by the Rodent and Lagomorph faunas: three are ascribed to the Paleogene mammalian levels MP 29-MP30 and the upper one to the Neogene MN 1. The Paleogene faunas evidence a high degree of similarity with those of the Oligo-Miocene Lower Freshwater Molasse of Switzerland and the localities Créchy 1 and 2 correspond particularly well to the Swiss locality Brochene-Fluh 53, to which a magnetostratigraphic calibration ascribed an age between 24.1 and 23.6 Ma, the date of the Oligo-Miocene boundary being fixed at 23.8 Ma. Changes in the Rodent composition and abundance in these faunas document the impact of the Oligo-Miocene crisis, the uppermost fauna being very impoverished. The avifaunas differ from those of the Aquitanian localities of the Saint-Gérand-le-Puy area by the presence of two forms which are no longer found in the more recent deposits. These birds are mainly aquatic and indicate the proximity of shallow to moderately deep lakes, along the edge of which the Flamingo-related Palaelodidae were nesting. In Ostracod assemblages - numerous along the sequence but in most cases crushed or completely encrusted -, small-sized specimens are abundant, well-preserved, and among them Cypridopsis sp. is dominant; they are represented by adults and juveniles: they indicate shallow-water environmental conditions and unstable environment. Among large specimens, freshwater and brackish species occur; all of them are broken, coated by CaCO3: they belong to different biocenoses and attest some transport.     

Les foraminifères du Burdigalien moyen à supérieur de la région sud-aquitaine (golfe de Saubrigues, SW France)

Many exposures assigned to the Miocene formation of “Marnes de Saubrigues” (southwestern Aquitaine Basin) have been studied. Their revised stratigraphical allocation has made it possible to recognize mainly Middle to Late Burdigalian age deposits which have been widely sampled. They have been correlated with planktonic zones N6 pars-N7 and NN3-NN4 and locally dated 17.7 Ma with Sr isotopes. It is noteworthy that this chronological interval is only known in the southern Basin. An inventory of the rather abundant microplankton is provided, including series crossed by drillings in the Gulf of Biscay. These deposits yield a large diversity of benthic foraminifera, nearly 400 taxa, which can be considered as a reference fauna for western Europe Burdigalian. From a geographic point of view, it has been possible to subdivise the exposures into groups according to their bathymetry. Let us point out the first discovery of Borelis in the Burdigalian of France and in the northeastern Atlantic Miocene as well. Very rare specimens of Cycloclypeus are also present in the Aquitaine Basin. Among smaller foraminifera, the occurrence of Rosalina aguayoi, Pavonitina styriaca, the last appearance of Falsocibicides aquitanicus and the persistance of the genus Almaena must be emphasized. Several assemblages supply diatoms, rare radiolaria and sometimes abundant sponge spicules; the presence of these organisms, seldom reported from the Aquitaine Tertiary, might be linked to upwelling-type currents. Bachmayerella (inc. sed.) is uncommon and cited for the first time in the Burdigalian. A few taxonomical remarks and short notes are given for some species of foraminifera, and palaeoecological details as well. Numerous taxa are represented and comparisons with the foraminifera faunas mainly from the Lower-Middle Miocene of Western Mediterranean and Paratethys are sketched.     

L'industrie lithique du Paléolithique dans la région de Jungwon en Corée

Prehistoric people have been often lived in the Jungwon region during the Paleolithic. It is a reference for development of the Paleolithic cultures in Korea. During the lower Paleolithic, pebble tool culture has been developed: tools were made with local raw materials and direct percussion and anvil technique were utilized. Debitage and raw material of the middle Paleolithic did not make a great difference to the lower Paleolithic. Otherwise, tool size became small and the number of flake tools increased. The crucial changes occurred during the upper Paleolithic. Technique, acquisition of raw material and tool kits were thoroughly innovated. All of these changes would reveal that the upper Paleolithic people have carried out more various activities, that earlier periods and their social structure would be more complex than other ones'.     

Biochronologie mammalienne du Quaternaire du Maroc atlantique, dans son cadre régional

Recent researches conducted in Morocco in the frame of the “Programme Casablanca” provide a firm ground to set up a biochronology of the Pliocene and Pleistocene based upon the succession of Mammalian faunas, thanks to the occurrence of well-dated landmarks, and despite very scarce absolute datations. The site of Lissasfa, dated to the Miocene-Pliocene boundary by rodents, testifies to important exchanges with Europe. That of Ahl al Oughlam yielded more than 100 vertebrate species. The evolutionary stages of its rodents, carnivores, bovids, Kolpochoerus, as well as the absence of Equus, allow us to refer it to the late Pliocene, at ca. 2.5 Ma. The Thomas and Oulad Hamida quarries in Casablanca cut through a unique succession of marine and continental levels going back to the lower Pleistocene, yielding the earliest evidence of human presence in Morocco. Later stages of this human occupation are documented by the Middle Pleistocene levels of these quarries, and by several other sites, most of which are also located in the Rabat-Casablanca region, thus confirming the importance of this coastal area in human history. However, the first chapter of this history in North-western Africa, at present illustrated by the sites of Aïn Hanech and Mansourah in Algeria, remains poorly documented in Morocco.     

Le « nucléus Donggutuo » et sa signification dans l’industrie du paléolithique inférieur de Donggutuo, bassin de Nihewan, Chine du Nord

As one of the most important Lower Pleistocene sites of the Nihewan basin in North China, Donggutuo (DGT) site is well known for its fine retouched small tools and characters of flake industry. However, new excavations still reveal some new discoveries and educe some new issues to us. For example, the “DGT core” introduced in this article is a new discovered typotechnology and indicates new economic strategy of the local people, which was never known before in this area at the time of 1.1 Ma B.P. The paper provides general background and statistic analysis of DGT industry including special method applied to the “DGT core” and discusses possible influence of environmental change for the emerging of the “DGT core”. The “DGT core” shows a germinated microlithic tradition and reflects a cultural diversity of early humans in the Lower Paleolithic in North China.     

Étude taphonomique, paléoécologique et archéozoologique des faunes de grands mammifères de la seconde moitié du Pléistocène inférieur de la grotte du Vallonnet (Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, Alpes-Maritimes, France)

Vallonnet cave (Alpes-Maritimes, France) provided archaic lithic tools together with a big amount of large mammals of the end of lower pleistocene. At the crossing of diverse ecological niches in time and space, three main levels and within them several smaller units were distinguished. The poorly mineralized bones witnessed a huge diagenetic fragmentation. The presence of the animals in the cave seems to be linked to the reasons of their death. The exhaustive and systematic observation of the bones, like the bears probably used to die inside the cave. Some other carnivores especially hyenas, used the cave as a nursery. Man also occupied the cave and had an activity mainly on large cervid bones and on some other species as well. The very progressive deposit gave a way for carnivores and porcupine to gnaw the bones on the ground before their burial. The succession of actions (man, carnivores and porcupine) on the same bones is characteristic on Vallonnet large mammals bones.