dAf 37
TUFFREAU Alain
Riencourt-lès-Bapaume (Pas-de-Calais).
Un gisement du Paléolithique moyen
Construction of the northern TGV line resulted in the rescue excavation of Riencourt-lès-Bapaume. For the first time, it was possible to excavate a Middle Paleolithic open air site on a area of 10 000 m2. The preliminary contribution bought together in this volume represent analysis completed on short notice using samples drawn from the abundant lithic material (approximatively 86,000 pieces).
The archaeological levels, dispersed in the lœssic sequence of the first part of the last glacial, have yielded lithic artefacts witch can be assigned to many industries which illustrate the complexity of Middle Paleolithic. The lithic assemblage of level CA demonstrates the presence of two lithic reduction sequences : one for the production of Levallois flakes and another for the production of blades. The functional analysis have shown that both flake and blade reduction technologies are associated with the specific tool function.
Abstract
Abstract
1. Excavation and stratigraphy
1.1. The goals, strategies and history of the excavation
A.TUFFREAU
Construction of a future rail line (TGV Nord) resulted in the excavations of Riencourt-lès-Bapaume, the cost of which was covered by the French government (SNCF). For the first time, it was possible to excavate a Middle Paleolithic open-air site in loessic deposits with funding sufficient to permit an area of 10 000 square meters to be studied during a period of nine months (June 1989 to February 1990).
One of the major problems presented by the excavation of open-air sites is sample size. In these sites, human activities can be spread across a vast area. When activity areas are spatially isolated, the odds are great that materials corresponding to only a part of total site activities will be uncovered. It is, therefore, essential that excavations are carried out in as large an area as possible.
The absence of fauna at Riencourt-lès- Bapaume also facilitated the excavation of a very large surface in a limited period of time. Except for the description of the site stratigraphy, the contributions brought together in this volume represent analysis completed on short notice using samples drawn from the abundant lithic material (approximately 86 000 pieces).
1.2. The stratigraphy
A. TUFFREAU, B. VAN VLIET-LANOË
The archaeological site of Riencourt-lès- Bapaume is located close to the water divide between the Escaut and Somme river basins. The whole soil complex of the Last Interglacial (stage 5) is preserved in old loesses below the Pleniglacial loesses. The main laminar industry (level CA) is included in the geological unit 4a1, a humid layer corresponding to a reworked, grey wooded soil formed close to the end of stage 5c (Brorup-St. Germain 1).Level 4a1 probably correlates to a portion of the «Seclin Complex »which has been TL dated to 91 ± 11 kyr and 95 ± 10 kyr. Above this there are humid levels of the lower Pleniglacial (unit 3 with archaeological levels C and B) and of the middle Pleniglacial.
1.3. The palynological analysis
A.-V. MUNAUT
The palynological analysis has provided few results due to oxidation phenomena. The collections correspond to a very sparse, boreal forest or subarctic landscape characteristics of episodes of the early Weichselian glacial.
2. Lithic industries
2.1. The lithic industries of the late Middle Pleistocene
N. AMELOOT-VANDER HEIJDEN, A.TUFFREAU
The redeposited green sands at the base of the Riencourt-lès-Bapaume stratigraphic sequence yielded artifacts which can be associated with a biface industry of non- Levallois debitage.
2.2. The laminar industries of lever CA
N. AMELOOT-VANDER HEIJDEN
The lever CA assemblage consisted of more than 5 000 worked objects from an area of 159 quarter meter square units. One of the most remarkable features is the coexistence of two visibly different reduction sequences : one for the production of Levallois flakes and another for the production of blades. There are few retouched tools in proportion to the total lithic assemblage. The Mousterian tool group dominates typologically. Tools with convergent edges form 31.11 percent of the scrapers and typed points. The Upper Paleolithic tool group is more than 20 % of the retouched tool assemblage, and it is principally composed of weil-made, dihedral burins and burins on truncations, often multiple. The level CA series is part of the late Middle Paleolithic blade industry complex known from northwest Europe.
2.3. Functional analysis of the lithic industries of Level CA : a preliminary report and research directions
S. BEYRIES
This study is based on 178 pieces or 3,5 % of the collected material. The very good preservation of usewear traces made possible the recognition of different stages of wood and skin working. The results have shown that both flake and blade reduction technologies are associated with the deliberate production specific tool functions.
2.4. Principle characteristics of the lever C lithic industry
N. AMELOOT-VANDER HEIJDEN
Level C was excavated over an area of more than 600 square meters and yielded more than 50 000 artifacts. The general characteristics of the non-patinated series were established by an analysis of a 31 000 piece sample of the objects coming from an area of 775 quarter meter square units.
Each phase of the reduction sequence for the production of Levallois flakes is represented in Level C. The existence of a blade reduction sequence is attested to in Level C, as in Level CA, by the presence of a number of cores with prismatic sections and nearly 400 crested blades. The Level C series also includes true Levallois« blade» cores.
The retouched tools are relatively poorly represented. Typologically, the industry of Levef C tends towards a Mousterian of type Ferrassie. It is possible that the lithic assemblage recovered from Level C resulted from a mixing of various assemblages: a Ferrassie Mousterian, a blade industry like that of Level CA, a Mousterian of Acheulian Tradition Type A, and an industry with Micoquian influences. A few bifaces characteristic of these latter two facies were recovered outside the area considered in this study.
2.5. Technological study of cores from level C
A. LAMOTTE
A technological study of 543 cores divided into 3 categories (non-Levallois : 41 %, Levallois : 36,3 %, blade : 23,7 %) underlines, on the one hand, the variability of Levallois and non-Levallois cores and, on the other hand, seems to confirm the existence and the mastery of diverse techniques for the production of blade debitage.
2.6. Insights into the production strategies for scrapers from level C
J.-L. MARCY
This article attempts to reveal some strategies in scraper production using metric criteria on a sample drawn from the Level C materials. Associated with thousands of flakes, Levallois flakes and blades, most of the tools examined are made on non-Levallois and non-blade flakes with some cortex. The criteria chosen for this study did not show a clear relationship between the production of flakes and the production of tools, perhaps because there Was a certain opportunism in the selection of tool blanks. On the other hand, there was no evidence for resharpening or for transitions between the different scraper types.
2.7. Lithlc Industry with bifaclal follate pieces from the B1 series
N. AMELOOT-VAN DER HEIJDEN, A. TUFFREAU
This study is based on a preliminary sorting of a portion of the material. Besides the cores of clearly non predetermined debitage, the majority of which are shapeless, and the fragmentary pieces, there is a noticeable presence of about 40 Levallois cores and 9 blade cores with generally prismatic sections. Among the retouched tools, the Mousterian types are the best represented (II essential = 52,31). The Upper Paleolithic tool types (III essential = 8,86) consist most notably of dihedral burins on snaps, truncations, and end scrapers. Denticulates (IV essential = 12,18), like notches (12,05), were obtained by very marginal, shallow retouch on highly variable blanks.
There were a relatively large number of diverse pieces and some typologically varied pieces with inverse distal or proximal retouch. Bifacial foliate pieces, some of which appear to be prondniks, were also present. In sum, the B1 series can be defined as a Charentian Mousterian with levallois debitage and affinities with the Micoquian.
3. Interpretation
3.1. Stratigraphic position of blade industries in the Middle Paleolithic of Western Europe
B. VAN VLIET-LANOË, A. TUFFREAU, D. CLIQUET
In Western Europe, 5 archaeological sites are characterized by the presence of laminar Mousterian industries. Based on soil stratigraphy and on TL dating, it seems that two periods of occupation can be defined for all sites, one at the end of the Eemian during boreal conditions and another in the last part of stage 5c (Brorup) in somewhat colder conditions. Two sites (Port-Racine and Le Rozel) are located in very exposed conditions along the shore of the Channel. It is presumed, therefore, that they were only occupied during the summer. The two main « continental sites» (Riencourt-lès-Bapaume and Seclin) are located in humid shallow valleys and were probably occupied during the winter. From the geographical position of the different sites, it is presumed that the Mousterian population associated with these industries migrated seasonally and primarily hunted bovidae, horses and deer.
3.2. The lithic industries of Riencourt-lès-Bapaume in the context of Northwest Europe
N. AMELOOT-VAN DER HEIJDEN, A. TUFFREAU
The archaeological levels, dispersed in the entire stratigraphic sequence of the first part of the last glacial, have yielded an abundance of lithic artifacts. These artifacts can be assigned to many types of industries including blade assemblages (Levels CA and C), Ferrassie Mousterian assemblages (Levels C and A, Level II of the Chantier Sud), a Mousterian of Acheulian Tradition Type A assemblage (Level C) and a Charentian Mousterian assemblage with Micoquian influences (levels B1 and C). In other words, they could be assigned to industries of the late Middle Paleolithic already known from other sites in the north of France but never before discovered together in the same location. These assemblages, particularly the Level C material, illustrate the complexity of Middle Paleolithic.
The lithic assemblage of Level CA demonstrates the association of at least two distinct lithic reduction sequences which were simultaneously utilized : one for the production of Levallois flakes and another for the production of blades like those known from the Upper Paleolithic. The typological composition of the tools and their elongated morphology affirm the singular character of this industry which appears to be part of the late Middle Paleolithic complex of blade industries.
The material from Level B1 has confirmed the western extension of the Micoquian (or some industries presenting affinities with the cultural facies of the Micoquian of central Europe).
The new data given by the site of Riencourt-lès-Bapaume attest to the existence, in the late Middle Paleolithic, of relations between the Atlantic coast of Europe and central Europe at a time of climatic amelioration in an arboreal prairie environment favorable for the development of large fauna.
