Un dépôt d’anneaux en pierre du Néolithique ancien à Falaise, « zone d’activité Expansia II » ?

An archaeological diagnostic at Falaise revealed a pile of 6 stone rings, isolated from any domestic or burial features. The isolation suggests that the find can be interpreted as a ritual hoard. This hypothesis is possibly confirmed by other aspects: the alternating sizes and raw materials, as well as the site location between two dense early Neolithic settlement zones. The finds probably date to the late Villeneuve-Saint-Germain/Blicquy. The flat, wide rings have traces of manufacture and use. Analysis indicates that they were worn as arm ornaments, at the minimum in pairs. The raw materials, very common in assemblages from north-western France, are of regional origin. Comparable finds in France are rare, limiting interpretation of the hoard. This practice is not frequent and usually involves ring roughouts or worn grindstones, although these technical constraints do not rule out a certain ritualisation. At Falaise, the latter is perceptible but the objects are neither rare nor unusual. For this reason, the phenomenon differs from hoards of axe blades in Danubian cultures of the Rhineland, or of prestige axes at the beginning of the middle Neolithic.