Les statues-menhirs du Rouergue et du Haut-Languedoc : la posture des jambes et la technique de représentation des effigies féminines et masculines

Wex (1993) observes through the statuary of great historical cultures how body language appears to reflect the evolution of the respective status of man and woman. On the other hand, Serres (1997) reports that the feminine statues-menhirs of his so called groupe rouergat are represented with legs spread out, while masculine statues show broad as well as narrow postures. We examined this observation more systematically and further applied to it the properly ethological reading grid of Wex as a contribution to the history of gender relationships. A preliminary quantitative analysis aimed to determine which attributes give certainty about the sexual identity of the statues-menhirs. Special attention is given to the figures who underwent a gender change.     

Les sciuridés des gisements karstiques du Miocène inférieur à moyen du sud de la France : nouvelles espèces, phylogénie, paléoenvironnement

We describe sciurids from Lower and Middle Miocene karstic sites located in the south of France. Four new taxa are recognized here: Atlantoxerus martini nov. sp., Atlantoxerus sp. 1, Freudenthalia cuencae nov. sp. and Aragoxerus nov. sp. The last two genera are recognized for the first time in the south of France. A comparison with the Iberian peninsula is carried out, it tackles the problems of diversity, phylogeny and settlement. Hypothesis concerning the predation of these terrestrial squirrels and paleoenvironment is proposed.     

Groupement et ordination appliqués à l'étude de la répartition de l'épifaune benthique de l'estuaire maritime et du Golfe du Saint-Laurent

Forty-seven navigation buoys were used to collect quantitative samples of epibenthic fauna in the Lower Estuary and Gulf of St. Lawrence. Stations, as described by their sessile species and biomass composition, were grouped using multivariate analysis. A Gower similarity index, modified to take into account the importance of each species in the ecosystem, was used to compare stations. Results obtained by cluster and principal coordinate analyses showed comparable relations between stations. North Shore and Gaspé Coast stations were separated from those of the Lower North Shore, the Mingan Island sector and the Lower Estuary. Stations from the Lower North Shore were also separated from those of the Mingan Island region and of the Lower Estuary, but at a higher level of similarity. All animal assemblages consisted of the following sessile species: Obelia longissima (Pallas), Hiatella arctica (L.), Mytilus edulis L., Balanus balanoides (L.) and B. crenatus (Bruguière). These species formed over 95% of biomass of all sessile species. Differences between the various station assemblages were mainly due to changes in the relative abundance of these species. The geographical gradient of summer surface water temperature best explains the observed clusters. In the Lower Estuary, the spatio-temporal variations of physico-chemical factors and the surface circulation may influence the number of species and their abundance. The circulation systems of the Lower Estuary and near the Mingan Islands might account for the similarity between their assemblages. The same dominant species, Obelia longissima, characterizes the fauna of these two regions.     

Le site des Vachons : étude de la partie gravettienne de la collection de l’IPH

This article firstly summarizes the process of study of an old collection, which had not been considered since the excavations at the site Les Vachons, started before 1914 and completed around 1939. The studied collection of J. Coiffard, both excavator and inventor of this site, includes four-fifths of the artefacts because, in 1940, he donated approximately one fifth to the Eyzies Museum. For his part, J. Bouyssonie who participated in the excavations for 3 years gave the major part of his own collection to the Archaeological Society of Charentes Angouleme where its condition makes it difficult to analyze. Despite these restrictions, based on statistical comparisons with counts many other sites, I came to the conclusion that the top three layers of Les Vachons are a confirmation of the Gravettian model, developed by B. Bosselin and F. Djindjian through their factor analysis. This model seems much better suited to the stratigraphy of Les Vachons, than all assumptions made by previous analysts in their attempt to bring the industries from the three layers in what remains from the Peyrony model.     

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.     

Contribution à l'étude de la structure de la chromatine: I - Etude physico-chimique de la stabilité de la chromatine

Physicochemical studies of calf thymus chromatin were performed on micromicellar suspensions by thermal denaturation. These diluted suspensions were obtained, by a controlled shearing method, from a compact gel chromatin. Sedimentation and free-flow electrophoresis determined the size distribution of these particles. The most important result is a new transition on the melting profiles corresponding to a sudden increase of solution turbidity. This chromatin solution transition occurs at a higher temperature than usual DNA transition. The degree of « turbidity transitiondiminishes with micelle size but disappears when they are very mildly degraded by DNAases and when F₁ histone fraction is removed.This transition is not only size dependent but also depends on the micellar structure. This phenomenon is interpreted as an excluded volume effect by contact between compact and native regions of nucleoprotein micelles and denatured coils of DNA. Our study tried to show that the degree of turbidity transition can be a criterion of chromatin native structure.     

Application d'une méthode d'analyse du territoire à partir de la situation des marqueurs graphiques à l'intérieur de la Péninsule Ibérique : le Tage International

This paper, analyses the graphic evidences of the boundaries of Tagus between Spain and Portugal from the perspective of the model defended by our team. This model proposes the existence of the relationship between graphic markers: paintings, engravings in the open air, decorations over dolmens and menhirs, understood as a compact ideological group fixed in the organization social system of European producing people and metallurgical that occupying this landscape. This argument attempt to verify the possibilities of applying a pre-defined model in an area in which have been developed investigation models, focused to study megalithic monuments, menhirs, habitational areas, paints and engravings that shows symbolic expressions of the tradition to justify the property of rich areas in natural resources in what metallurgical have a remarkable importance.     

Les voiles microbiens. Leur contribution à la fossilisation des organismes au corps mou

Dans certains gisements fossilifères, la conservation des organismes au corps mou est imputable à la prolifération de voiles microbiens. II en est ainsi des shales du Grès à Voltzia (Trias inférieur) où des méduses, des annèlides et diverses pontes sont fossilisés dans des lamines grises, d'épaisseur inframillimétrique, dont la nature bactérienne est démontrée. En recouvrant rapidement les cadavres, les voiles microbiens les protégeaient contre les animaux saprophages et les actions mécaniques. En měme temps, ils créaient un milieu clos, appauvri en oxygène, qui inhibait la décomposition de la matière organique. □ Fossilisation, voiles microbiens, cyanobactéries, Buntsandstein.
Preservation of soft-bodied organisms in some fossiliferous localities is attributable to spreading of microbial veils. This is the case of the shales of the Grès à Voltzia (Lower Triassic), where fossil medusae, worms and clutches occur in grey, less than a millimeter thick laminae, the bacterial origin of which is demonstrated. Covering the bodies rapidly, the microbial veils protected them from scavengers and physical injuries. They created enclosed spaces, with poor oxygen content, inhibiting the decay of organic matter. □ Fossilization, microbial veils, cyanobacteria, Buntsandstein.     

Les cétacés des gravures rupestres néolithiques de Bangu-dae (Corée du Sud) et les débuts de la chasse à la baleine dans le Pacifique nord-ouest

The Neolithic site of Bangu-dae (6000-1000 B.C.), south-east of the Korean peninsula, presents numerous rock carvings of cetaceans (n = 46, 19.9% of the figures), and especially large species. Among these two families of baleen whales (Balaenidae and Balaenopteridae) and the sperm whale can be identified. This site also presents whaling scenes suggesting that the Neolithic populations who lived along the coast of Korea were among the first to take advantage of coastal whales. All these carvings give exceptional evidence on the prehistoric beginning of whaling.     

Les kystes de dinoflagellés des Argiles Ostréennes du Bassin de Paris, France

Palynological studies realized from a borehole drilled on the site of ANDRA (Agence Nationale pour la gestion des Déchets RAdioactifs; Aube Centre near Soulaines, Paris Basin, France) show a sedimentary discontinuity between, on one hand, the Argiles à Plicatules (lower Aptian in age) and Argiles Ostréennes (Lower Barremian/Upper Barremian in age) and, on the other hand, between these same Argiles Ostréennes and the Calcaire à Spatangues (Lower Hauterivian). These conclusions argue against the chronostratigraphical subdivision recently proposed on the basis of sequence stratigraphical and sedimentological interpretations.