Les industries magdaléniennes de l’Ardèche (France) dans le contexte du bassin méditerranéen

Ardèche, a department of Rhone Alpes region, is rich in prehistoric sites belonging to a very large chronological period dated back to 350?000 years ago. But, the prehistory of the region has been unknown for a long time, mainly, because of its distance from traditional centres of research. Jean Combier, in his abstract dated 1967, defined for the first time Upper Palaelolithic stages: only towards the acquisition of new data, we are now able to suggest a new evolution for the Magdalenian from its origins to the Alleröd climatic episod. To define Ardèche originality within the Magdalenian context, we have compared its lithic industries with those of the Adaouste Cave oriental sites, the Cornille rock shelter and of the Gazel cave in the Aude western part. Ardèche Magdalenian dwelling is peculiar compared to the South West of France. Badegoulian has been substituted by a Mediterranean Facies culture rich in bladelets, the Salpestrian. This facies limited in its geographic extention to Gard and Ardèche, evolves gradually in situ gaining Magdalenian elements (such as backed bladelets and dihedral burins) giving birth to the transitory lithic complex of Huguenots and Baume d’Oullins Cave. An established Magdalenian is certified in the Blanchisserie camp, within a cold climatic context dated back to circa 16?000 years ago. Although the lithic industry is dominated by dihedral burins and backed bladeletse it is also characterised by some archaic features (such as keel endscrapers, transverse burins and scalene bladelets). The upper Magadalenian with bone harpoons appears soon in our region, in the Colombier rock shelter, in a fairly temperate climatic context dated according to 14C back to circa 14?000 BP. We could identify six stages within the evolution of this Upper Magdalenian.which are attested in the Colombier, Ebbou and Deux Avens Caves and in the Colombier rock shelter that has been occupied during several periods. The Magdalenian gradually changed loosing his most typical elements, the bladelets and burins supremacy has been substituted by Azilian elements (such as short endscrapers and curved backed points). But even if the Azilian process happens very early (before 12?500 BP) the Magdalenian, in its fundamental features, never disappears completely and it has never been substituted by classic Azilian. After Alleröd appears a culture characterised by the recovery of Magdalenian features similar to the Epimagdalenian defined by D. Sacchi in Gazel. The described evolution can be compared, as regard to its upper stages, to that of several sites of Rhone region as well as of the North West of France, which allow to define a culturally homogeneous province having the Rhone corridor with Ardèche as its Southern border. At the end of Palaeolithic this province broke up and Ardèche opened to the South and the Mediterranean from where seems to come the retouched large blade facies and endscrapers attested by the Colombier rock shelter dating back to 12?150 BP.     

Évolution des caractères technologiques et typologiques des industries lithiques dans la stratigraphie de la Caune de l'Arago

The thick Quaternary deposits of the Caune de l’Arago (Pyrénées-Orientales, France) are dated to between 690 000 and 90 000 years old. At least fifteen different archeostratigraphical units have been identified within these deposits, each corresponding to distinct prehistoric occupations. Numerous stone tools made from several different rock types, have been discovered in each unit. The tools present specific characteristics concerning the choice of raw materials, the typology, and the technology used to produce them. Morpho-technological study of the different components of the assemblage contributes to a better understanding of the debitage methods used for their production. Each raw material is considered individually in order to ascertain its origin in the environment, its typological role and the technology applied during its exploitation. Defining production systems leads to the characterisation of the assemblages from each unit. When compared, they reveal common elements, as well as differences, suggesting evolutionary trends. Some observations are also made concerning the extent to which changing uses of the site may have influenced the general morphology of each assemblage, therefore taking into account exterior factors. Analysis of this rich stone tool assemblage helps to situate the Caune de l’Arago industry within the larger evolutionary context of the Lower Paleolithic in Mediterranean Europe.     

Proposition d’un référentiel taphonomique fossile de faunes issues d’avens-pièges

Pitfalls are formations characterized by a vertical opening that connects the karstic system to the outside. The presence of faunas trapped without the intervention of man or carnivores, offers the opportunity to establish a fossil referential of modifications generated by identified taphonomic agents. Three natural deposits containing large faunal accumulations feed this work. Their characteristics differ. The Igue des Rameaux, to Saint-Antonin-Noble-Val in Tarn-et-Garonne, is a pitfall which contains two accumulations of fauna independent from the Middle Pleistocene. Scavenging by man and carnivores (hyenas and wolves) are observed. The Igue du Gral, to Sauliac-sur-Célé in Lot, is a second pitfall. His principal phase of filling took place 14,000 years ago. Man did not exploit this assemblage. The activity of wolves is locally important, some animals are scavenged. The Grotte de l’Escale, in Bouches-du-Rhône, contains a very important filling of lower and middle Pleistocene. For the levels presented here, only a very weak presence of carnivores is attested. The thar (Hemitragus bonali) is the majority specie. We describe here the main forms of climato-edaphic modifications: fragmentation, dissolution, weathering and deposits observed on the osseous material. A differential analysis enables us to evaluate the variability of the situations according to the stratigraphic units and the different species. In a second time, we estimate the impact of the taphonomic agents on the differential conservation of bones and skeletal representations. Many phenomena are producing a significant correlation between anatomical representations and osseous densities. However, we find for all the species a certain homogeneity in the skeletal profiles where no precise element dominates. In a last part, we give two examples of the use of the taphonomic phenomena in the individualization of filling episodes within sometimes disrupted stratigraphies.     

Sols et structures d’habitat du Paléolithique supérieur, nouvelles données depuis les Cantabres : la Galerie Inférieure de La Garma (Cantabrie, Espagne)

A brief review is done of the history of the research on Upper Paleolithic floors and structures, with a general outline of the main substantive and theoretical-methodological aspects. On the resulting “state of the art” we present the preliminary results of the study of the occupation evidences from the Lower Gallery of La Garma. In essence, it constitutes an astonishing ensemble of extensive Middle Magdalenian occupation floors, exceptionally rich and quite well preserved, including several structures and associated with rock art paintings and carvings of that period. The potential of the site is superlative, and the research’s project already begins to offer some interesting results of which this article is a fairly small advance.     

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.     

Baume Flandin et Abri du Maras : deux exemples de débitage laminaire du début du Pléistocène supérieur dans la Vallée du Rhône (sud-est, France)

Assemblages with blades are rare in the south of Europe and most of them are dated from the isotopic stages 4 and 3. The blades are, otherwise, often produced on Levallois cores with unipolar and bipolar methods. According to the sites, the blades are more or less retouched as different kinds of tools. However, there are no specific links between this blank and the tools, and never between the artefacts and the fauna remains (activities). The hypothesis of traditions or needs among time and space are asked without answer, while the blades are present in the north of Europe and the Near East in far older periods. Several sites can be considered to describe the variability of the technical behaviour and the archaeological context of the blades in south-east France, extending to north Italy. The two sites, Abri du Maras and Baume Flandin, located in the middle Rhône valley, yield evidence of a laminar debitage linked to a Levallois method and a “direct” method. The technical choices used in the two sites are accorded to the specificity of the laminar assemblages in the southern Europe.     

Nouvelle approche de l’art rupestre de l’Atlas saharien : les figurations de la période tardive

Figurations in Atlas have been studied numerous times, namely by Flamand and Frobenius between 1891 and 1914, by Vaufrey in 1939 and by Lhote between 1955 and 1970. And finally there were Iliou’s¹ and Hachid’s theses in the 1980s and Amara’s thesis in 2001. The study of the Atlas figurations discovered since 1847 brought new data on the engravings from the recent period. The originality of the engravings lies in the appearance of new themes, which had been unknown until yet. The presence of metal weapons figures enriches the records of the Atlas rock Art. The alphabetical signs, another new theme, give an identity to this Art. The work undertaken in this vast region raises the problem of the persistency of the Neolithic culture. All the figurations show some aspects of the evolution, which become permanent, mostly at the end of the recent period.     

Chronologie de l’art Mégalithique ibérique : C et contextes archéologiques

From the beginning of our investigation we found the necessity of locating the Megalithic Iberian art in the chronology that came off of the well-known data in the peninsula at the end of the 1980s and of those that manifested the Atlantic long sequences. Then, we argue the dates obtained in the deposits of decorated dolmens to endorse the chronological similarity between architectures and decorations. To it, we could add decorations in the nonvisible area of some slabs that they even aimed a bigger antiquity. With that material, we organize our first chronological proposal for the Megalithic Iberian art, in which we assumed dates of fifth millennium lime BC for the oldest decorations, in consonance with the construction of the first megaliths. Moreover, it would be right so much in the supposedly classic areas as in the less favoured sectors for the investigation: the Interior, the South and the West of the Iberian peninsula. In successive works we are configuring a hypothesis on its development and chronology that offers more and more confirmations. The documentation of AMS dates on megalithic paintings, a unique case in the megalithic European art, comes to consolidate the chronology of the megalithic Iberian art. With all the data obtained in the last twenty years, we are arrived to the moment for establishing a sequence to adjust their times, to value complex situations in the decoration of the monuments and to confirm a long chronology that arrives practically as a residual way to Iron Age.     

Les industries acheuléennes de la France septentrionale

The excavations of several open air sites in Northern France and, especially in the Somme basin, have given numerous data concerning the age and the environment of the human occupations for the period from MIS 12 to MIS 8. The quality of the raw material and the function of the different sites have a great effect on the composition of the lithic assemblages as it has been seen for the different sites located near the confluence of the Somme and Avre (Cagny-la Garenne, Cagny-l’Épinette, Ferme de l’Épinette, Gentelles). The characteristics of the lithic industries of Gouzeaucourt show the complexity of the transition from Lower to Middle Palaeolithic.     

Témoins du froid. La faune dans l’art rupestre paléolithique de l’intérieur péninsulaire

It is our intention to analyse the environmental significance of the Palaeolithic artistic representations existing in the inner areas of the Iberian Peninsula. The fauna is used to create chronological and climatical criteria to affirm the condition of the castillan plateau during the last glaciation. In our opinion, it is dangerous to use the isolated animals in order to talk about coldness or heat situation because they reflect the cultural selection of their authors more than the ambiental reality. Neither the animals called thermometer nor the euritherm ones are solely represented in the tempered moments. Moreover, we have almost a no animal representation than artistic during the last finiglacial period in the peninsular interior. It means probably that the artistic representations are mainly cultural signs, which change for cultural reasons and not properly climatic ones within a general reality of glacial environment.     

Les Hommes d’Abourma (République de Djibouti)

The site of Abourma, situated in the mountains of Makarrassou, is the most important site known in the Republic of Djibouti. It has yielded almost 3 km of rock carvings, which essentially comprise of wild and domesticated animals, beasts which are in common with all the rock engravings of the region. However, Abourma has revealed other much rarer scenes. This is where men appear. The hunting scenes are numerous, varied and sometimes very detailed. The most exceptional are the scenes of men fighting where the archers are facing each other and the scene where the men form a circle around a cow. The men of Abourma add some life to the rock carvings of Djibouti with scenes of significant acts. They shed some innovative light onto certain aspects of the past cultures of Djibouti, of which we have found a number of traces.     

Etude électroantennographique de la réception de stimulus odorants d'origine végétale chez Acrolepiopsis assectella

Résumé Les réponses E.A.G. d'Acrolepiopsis assectella Zell., Lépidoptère Hyponomeutoïdea spécialiste des Allium, montrent une sensibilité à l'odeur de la plante-hôte larvaire A. porrum saine ou attaquée, et à ses composés volatils soufrés spécifiques, toutes odeurs actives dans l'attraction des deux sexes en olfactomètre. Le Ti-P₂, le plus abondant et le plus spécifique du végétal est toujours le plus efficace. Ceci confirme le rôle prépondérant des substances allélochimiques soufrées dans la recherche de la plante-hôte. Une réactivité antennaire plus ou moins importante est également enregistrée avec l'odeur de certaines plantes non-hôtes (chou et tomate). L'antenne du lépidoptère est également très sensible à certains produits volatils du complexe odorant vert des végétaux qui sont identifiés dans l'odeur du poireau, le cis-hexen-3-ol-1 le plus actif est aussi le seul à être attractif. Le rôle biologique exact des composés verts et l'interférence de l'odeur complète de la plantehôte avec celle de plantes non-hôtes, telle que la tomate, efficace sur l'antenne et sur le comportement sont discutés.     

Rôle du gypaète barbu (Gypaetus barbatus) dans la constitution de l’assemblage osseux de la grotte du Noisetier (Fréchet-Aure,Hautes-Pyrénées,France)

Located in the Aure Valley (French central Pyrénées), the Noisetier cave opens at 825 m asl. This Middle Palaeolithic site has produced a Mousterian industry associated with a rich faunal assemblage. Bone remains are dominated by Chamois then Ibex and Red deer. Taphonomic analysis strongly suggests a human origin for the Ibex and the Red deer but questions arise for the Chamois. The chamois assemblage differed from the bones of both species by its low cut marks ratio. Semi-digested bones are particularly abundant. Differences are even more perceptible for skeletal portions. For Red deer and Ibex, long bone remains are mostly shaft portions whereas for Chamois, ends are the most abundant. Comparisons of the Noisetier cave bone assemblage with different present-day reference data leads to the conclusion that Chamois bones have mostly been accumulated by bearded vultures.     

La gélifraction des restes fauniques. Expérimentation et transfert au fossile

The fragmentation observed in an archaeological site, which cannot be explained only in terms of anthropological action, we subjected faunal remains (bones and teeth) in alternations of frost/thaw at the center of geomorphology of the CNRS of Caen. At the same time, we arranged osseous and dental fragments in five cells of an artificial site in natural environment in the South Alps (program of multidisciplinary research transfert de référentiels actuels de l’étage nival aux sites paléolithiques [TRANSIT]). At the end of the experiments, we were able to bring to light the characteristics of some gelifracts but their direct comparison with the archaeological osseous fragments, although very promising, is there only for its debuts and requires others similar experiments.     

Habitat et mode de vie des chasseurs paléolithiques de la Caune de l'Arago (600 000-400 000 ans)

Several human occupations have been identified within the deposits of the Caune de l’Arago Cave site, dated from 700 000 years to 100 000 years old. The exceptional wealth of these archeological levels provides an opportunity for the study of different types of habitat and behavioral patterns of Paleolithic hunters between 600 000 and 400 000 years ago. Results from preliminary studies, carried out over the last 30 years on these archeological levels, allow for the proposition of a typology for cave habitats during the Middle Pleistocene in the south of France. In fact, four types of habitat were identified and defined. They have been described according to different characteristics such as, the thickness of the archeological accumulation, the animal species represented, the season during which the animals were hunted, the state of conservation of the fossils discovered, the morpho-technological and typological characteristics of the lithics, the categories of raw materials used and the territory exploited by the hominids inhabiting the cave, as defined by the raw materials represented. The four habitation types defined are: the long duration habitat, where the cave was used as a home base; the temporary seasonal habitat, in which case the cave served as a secondary campsite; the hunting stopover and the bivouac, during which the cave was used as a refuge for short term stays. Behavioral patterns appear to be directly related to the type of habitat and oriented towards a principal activity: hunting. The activities performed by the inhabitants of the cave seem to be more diversified during prolonged or seasonal occupations, whereas they appear to be reduced or very specialised during brief stays. Generally, The characteristics studied show that the Caune de l’Arago Cave site had multiple uses over time for Anteneandertalian family groups and hunters who left traces of their activities, allowing us to better understand their lifestyle.     

Modification de la fertilité du carpocapse Cydia pomonella à la suite du contact des adultes avec un régulateur ou un inhibiteur de croissance d'insectes

Résumé Des papillons de carpocapse Cydia pomonella L., mâles et femelles séparés, sont soumis au contact des résidus secs du CGA 184'699, un inhibiteur de croissance d'insectes (ICI) et du fenoxycarb, un régulateur de croissance d'insectes (RCI). Ils sont ensuite regroupés dans boîtes non traitées pour l'accouplement et la ponte. La fécondité du carpocapse n'est pratiquement pas affectée par ce conditionnement mais sa fertilité diminue avec l'augmentation de la concentration des produits et avec la durée d'exposition. Avec le CGA 184'699, l'efficacité ovicide induite atteint environ 50% suite à un contact de trois jours avec les résidus d'un traitement à 100 mg/l, alors qu'avec le fenoxycarb elle s'élève à 87% dans les mêmes conditions. Avec le CGA 184'699, seul le contact des femelles avec les résidus provoque cette réduction de fertilité, alors que le fenoxycarb agit sur les deux sexes.

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Summary Codling moth, Cydia pomonella L., males and females were exposed separately to contact with dry residues of CGA 184'699 an insect growth inhibitor (IGI) and fenoxycarb, an insect growth regulator (IGR), The sexes were then grouped together in non treated boxes for mating and egglaying. Fecundity of codling moth was little affected by this treatment but its fertility decreased with increases in the concentration of products and the duration of contact. Induced ovicidal efficacy was about 50% after three days contact with the residues of a 100 mg (a.i.)/l application of CGA 184'699, whereas the same conditions led to about 87% efficacy with fenoxycarb. With CGA 184'699, only contact by females affected egg eclosion whereas fenoxycarb acted on both sexes.

     

Relations entre les représentations figuratives et les signes dans trois grottes magdaléniennes : Les Combarelles I, Rouffignac (Périgord, France) et Altxerri (Pays basque, Espagne)

Magdalenian signs are more numerous and more varied than ones of another periods in the Upper Palaeolithic. In the 3986 signs studied in 28 caves, 2364 signs, or 59,3% of signs are associated with figurative representations. For the question about the relations between the figurative representations and the signs associated, we chose four parameters: thematic analysis, interior analysis, chronological analysis and external analysis. Especially in three caves like Les Combarelles I, Rouffignac (Périgord, France) and Altxerri (Spanish Basque), we got interesting results by those analyses. The thematic analysis let find whether the themes are associated with specific signs. In the many caves, the most numerous figurative representations are often associated with signs. About the interior analysis, many signs are located on the flank of the animal figures. And, the chronological analysis show that the signs were made before the figurative representations the same times that after. The anteriority of making signs and the posterity depends on the place (external analysis) in the three caves. So, our analysis methods with those varied parameters make the signs characterized by type, by cave or by region.     

Influence du type de culture et de l'antécédent cultural sur les déplacements des adultes de la pyrale du maïs Ostrinia nubilalis

Résumé Au cours de l'été 1983 dans un agrosystème de Charente (Nord du Bassin Aquitain), les auteurs ont utilisé la technique du piégeage lumineux associée à des lâchers d'insectes marqués. Afin de mimer les émergences possibles des papillons à partir de chenilles hivernantes, les insectes colorés étainent lâchés dans une parcelle de blé (Triticum) (à antécédent cultural maïs), à égale distance de 4 pièges disposés dans 4 parcelles adjacentes. Les captures d'insectes colorés montrent clairement que les femelles quittent le blé et se dirigent vers le maïs, confirmant par là le rôle de l'antécédent cultural sur les infestations annuelles. Les captures d'insectes sauvages indiquent à cette époque une prédominance des mâles due probablement à la protandrie d'environ 8 jours chez l'espèce et à une mobilité naturelle supérieure à celle des femelles. Les implications écologiques et agronomiques de ces déplacements sont discutées et un schéma d'explication des différents types de mouvements des papillons de pyrale: déplacements d'émergence et déplacements quotidiens alternatifs, est proposé.     

Ndindan : synthèse archéologique d’un site datant de trois millénaires à Yaoundé (Cameroun)

This text is a synthesis of the results from the archaeological study of Ndindan site (Ndedama in Ewondo language) (3°54’N; 11°30’E), located north-west of Yaoundé urban area, on the Mont-Febe eastern side. An overview of the historical of prehistoric research in Yaoundé is given. It then tackles the study of the archaeological materials and supplies the radiocarbon datings of the site. A reconstitution of ancient population and of the paleoeconomy on the regional scale is at last made.     

Les assemblages lithiques des niveaux du Paléolithique moyen de l’Abri des Pêcheurs (Ardèche, Sud-Est de la France): Des occupations néandertaliennes récurrentes dans un « fossé »

The Abri des Pêcheurs has yielded an extraordinary sequence with Middle and Upper Palaeolithic levels. Humans came and stayed in a ditch-cave that has been filled in along time. During Middle Palaeolithic occupations, they used first quartz, and this site is the only case in this area. Assemblages show similar technological behaviour along time. Flint is few employed and arrived as flakes from different areas if we consider its geological variety. Functions of the site are not well established. The base of the sequence has yielded sediments with a mixing of ibex, carnivore bones and artefacts. The study of the lithic assemblages brings information on the processing systems used on quartz and flint during occupations which left few evidence and used local stones while flint is available not far from the site. Hypothesis on short and specialized occupations is discussed.