dAf 68
JACQUET Pierre
Habitats de l'âge du Bronze à Lyon-Vaise (Rhône)
This volume is one of the first scientific Publications devoted to the archaeological research covering Bronze Age occupations (20th-14th centuries BC) carried out during the construction of the northern ring road around the city of Lyon.
It has been possible to interpret the vestiges discovered as belonging to .rural centres or clusters of dwellings established at a site on the flank of the valley. The sets of objects studied, primarily ceramics, have come to constitute a valuable reference resource for the Lyon region. They testify to a composite cultural profile for the early Bronze Age, combining northern and southern characteristics, while the Bell Beaker cultural background subsists. During the late Bronze 1period. however. the southern features give way to influences of the Jura and Burgundian regions, and those derived from the North-western façade of the Alps.
Palaeo-environmetal studies conducted in conclusion with the archaeological work provide the basis for an investigation of the landscape during the Bronze Age and the foundation of the populations' subsistence economy, in keeping with the basic outlines established for the temperate regions of Western Europe.
Abstract
Abstract
The construction of the northern ring-road around Lyon motivated an important archaeological rescue operation. Executed over a two year period, a strip with a surface area of 4 ha was divided into eight sites dug by teams from the Afan.
The sites revealed a diversified potential and settlements from both the early and the start of the late Bronze Age figure among the discoveries made.
The sedimeniary contexts and the taphonomic conditions were determined by the situation of the deposits at the foot of a slope. Colluvial soil activity explains the build-up of a stratigraphical sequence, with localised disturbances caused by surface-water gullies. Soil formation processes play an important role in the creation of the stratigraphical horizons: intense biological activity caused vertical sedimentary displacements and the destruction of most of the stratigraphy. A thick layer of silts separated the post-glacial loess deposits and the colluvions which date roughly from the start of the roman period. No interfaces were preserved in this sequence whieh contained the proto-historic occupation levels.
The absence of these occupation surfaces and the poor visibility of the negative structures were a handicap but the excavation did allow several levels of occupation to be distinguished.
The late Bronze Age turned out to be the richest source of remains. The spatial analysis was rendered very difficult by the poor visibility of the structures but nevertheless allowed the recognition of a nucleated or grouped settlement. This was composed of at least six rectangular architectural entities, each with a surface area of 35 to 60 m2.Their organisation respects no particular pattern.
An earlier-phase of occupation belonging to the early Bronze Age could be distinguished under this level. The excavators believed they saw a large central building, some 20 m long, surrounded by a series of connected spaces: hypothetical palisades, silos...
A third level, stratigraphically very close to this earlier one, was much harder to bring into evidence. It seemed to respect an identical pattern of organisation and. was also attributed to the early Bronze Age.
The corpus of archaeological material from these different levels is of variable importance. The ceramic material is, however, the most strongly present element in all three cases. The late Bronze Age occupation delivered the richest group of ceramics thanks to the 7000 fragments which came from a midden. All the functional categories were represented: big storage jars, cooking vessels and small receptacles... Several morphological tendencies dominated: chamfered rims, short, narrow and fairly straight forms, high shoulders, narrow flat bottoms, crossed handles, lugged rims... The decorative repertoire is largely given over to shallow grooves for the small and middle sized vessels with applied finger pressed bands and lines of stamps for the larger vessels. Several more sophisticated themes were also present: incised and hatched triangular motifs, excised or stamped triangles, gadroons...
The corpus for each of the early Bronze Age horizons is much reduced and harder to apprehend. In both cases, the fragments of large jars are overrepresented in comparison with those of the smaller vessels. The upper of these levels associates Rhodanien type lugged jars with simple, orthogonal or finger decorated bands and squat jars with smooth collar bands. The Rhodanien type vases are not found in the lower occupation level. Several cups with a bell-beaker type decoration may be attached to this level.
The lithic industry is, logically, better represented in the early than in the late Bronze Age. If is characterised by the heterogeneous nature of the materials used and the difficulty in establishing the technological and economic organisation.
During the start of the late Bronze Age, the local techniques consist of the knapping of short thick flakes; the tools are essentially based on flakes but their morphometric data are not strictly comparable with those of the knapping. Typologically, two thirds of the tools belong to marginal groups. More refined or elaborate tools are rare.
During the early Bronze Age, the production is largely based on the use of flakes and flake derived tools. One may consider that the knapping, like the tools, was based on two techniques: the first and most frequent reveals an investment of time and labour reduced to a strict minimum and within a . domestic framework. This is opposed to the second group of more elaborate tools with limited typological variations (graters, burins, scrapers).
The range of finds is completed by a few rare objects of stone, bone or copper alloy. These were all incomplete, which would seem to explain their abandon.
The composition of the late Bronze Age ceramic material presents some convincing similarities with a certain number of assemblages from the Jura (the cave sites of Lains, Gigny and, further south, the Gardon), Burgundy and the northern Alps. These parallels allow the chronological and cultural attribution of the site to the first phase of the late Bronze Age. This conclusion is confirmed by the C14 dating which indicates the 15th and 14th centuries B.C. as being the most probable dates for the occupation.
The corpus for the early Bronze Age is too small and the data too unreliable to permit anything more than shaky hypotheses: typologically, the upper horizon seems to fit into a fairly evolved facies of the early Bronze Age. It shows as many southern as northern influences. The only radiocarbon date from this horizon indicates an occupation between the 20th and the 14th centuries B.C. No precise hypothesis can be put forward for the first phase of occupation.
A vast campaign of environ mental samples and analyses was carried out on the site. It allowed the major lines of the evolution of the landscape to be sketched out. When confronted with the archaeological data, it was possible to open up some perspectives on the economy of the deposits. The settlements of the early Bronze Age were implanted into an already cleared landscape. The proximity of a stream and of the river Saône explains the importance of riverside species. The late Bronze Age sees an increase in land clearance with the forest being probably confined to the plateau. The riverside wood lands were also partially cultivated : wheats, barley, millet and beans were grown and the gathering of hazelnuts and acorns seems to represent an important food supplement during both the early and late Bronze Ages. The three domestic animal species (cattle, pigs and sheep or goats) are more or less equally represented with hunting and fishing as marginal activities.
The edges of the plain of the river Vaise possess potentials which help to explain the presence of these settlements. The occupation of the slopes, which allowed access to a variety of ecosystems, is now a well known constant; in the case of the northern ring-road sites, the presence of a nearby river is an added advantage. Our map of these settlemel1ts is still too empty, notably for the early Bronze Age, for us to be able to understand the structure and evolution of settlement patterns, especially since no burial sites are yet known.
Keywords
Early Bronze Age, Late Bronze Age, Ceramics / pottery, environment, geochemistry, lithic industry, slope, excavation methods.
