The Middle Palaeolithic at the Brive-Laroche-Aérodrome sites (Corrèze, France)
Le Paléolithique moyen des sites de Brive-Laroche-Aérodrome (Corrèze, France)
Résumé
Southwestern France, with its numerous sites including eponymous sites, constitutes one of the richest archaeological records for the Middle Palaeolithic in Western Europe. However, data availability varies widely in this region. Techno-economic and subsistence behaviors are especially well documented in the Charente and Dordogne areas. Conversely, few data are available for the Middle Palaeolithic occupations on the fringes of the Massif central, such as in Corrèze. In this area, the mineral environment is mainly dominated by quartz, unlike the rest of the Aquitaine basin, which is rich in silicites exploited by prehistoric populations.
In the Corrèze area, the Middle Palaeolithic is essentially known through surface lithic material and the past excavations of two major sites: La Chapelle-aux-Saints and Chez-Pourré Chez-Comte. Recently, preventive archaeology has allowed the discovery and excavation of open-air sites associated with the Late Middle Paleolithic (Combemenue, Brive-Laroche or les Hauts de Lestrade), offering information on the temporal framework, techno-economic behaviors of these populations, and the strategies developed in relation to the quartz pebbles and cobbles between the Périgord and the Massif central.
The occupations dated to the Late Middle Palaeolithic were uncovered at the Brive-Laroche-Aerodrome site, located between the municipalities of Brive-la-Gaillarde and Saint-Pantaléon-de-Larche. Two excavation areas were explored in the alluvial plain (named North and South), which may correspond to two different sites.
The geomorphological and taphonomic analysis reveals polyphase occupations, particularly in the South sector where fewer refits were identified. Only a concentration of small quartz material, which prompted manual excavation, remains unexplained in this sector. The lithic material underwent minimal mechanical alterations prior to excavation, but three levels of patina show evidence of post-depositional water circulation, and significant damage occurred during the recent mechanical excavation operation. Flood and channel deposits are present based on the stratigraphic sequence (between MIS 8 and MIS 6?). These deposits were gradually covered by poorly sorted silty deposits where the sedimentary filling of the North sector (Lb) and the base of the South sector (Lb2) are inserted. Several episodes of intense cold climate may have been responsible for the formation of a channel that truncates the archaeological horizon and the erosion of the top of Lb in the South sector. Following this cold period, colluvial formation continued in the South sector (Lsc), until the establishment of new periglacial conditions (polygonal soil, MIS 3 or 2?). The dates obtained for the archaeological levels from the infrared stimulated luminescence (IRSL) signal of the potassium feldspars in the sediment indicate an age between MIS 5 and the first half of MIS 4. It is possible to refine the chronology for the North sector between MIS 5c and 5a (94 ± 10 ka, 92 ± 10 ka, 93 ± 9 ka).
The lithic assemblages demonstrate the preferential use of raw materials available in the local environment (within approximately 10 km of the site), mainly quartz pebbles and cobbles. All stages of the chaîne opératoire are represented for these raw materials, reflecting on-site knapping operations. Percussion tools (hammerstones, anvils) are also present in the lithic assemblage. In the South sector, various techniques such as Discoid (mainly unifacial), bipolar on anvil, and algorithmic debitage (S.S.D.A.) are employed on these raw materials depending on their morphologies. The Discoid flaking concept is comparatively less common in the North sector on quartz. The reduction processes on these materials are not highly indicative of any particular techno-complex since they are found in the Lower and Middle Paleolithic without distinction in southwestern France.
A significant portion of the production is derived from silicites imported from more distant areas, approximately 30 kilometers away (constituting between 20% and 30% depending on the sector). Twenty types of silicites have been identified, originating from at least six distinct geotopes. The most commonly used are the Upper Cretaceous flints (mainly Santonian) from the middle Vézère Valley, particularly the Coniacian flints found on the Montignac plateaux. The second exploited area is the Vézère-Dordogne interfluve, where blond Santonian flints are found, notably on the Tamniès plateau. The third exploited biotope is the Tourmente Valley, located to the south of the site, with Bajocian-Bathonian flints. The other geotopes are less prominent. All silicite knapping sequences are segmented, unlike those of quartz. In both sectors, a ramification (branching strategy) of the reduction processes was observed, likely in response to economic contingencies. Not only tools were transported, but also some large cortical or semi-cortical flakes to be further flaked (reserved as raw material). The modes of production are more indicative of the Middle Paleolithic, characterized by the use of Levallois and bifacial Discoid concepts of production. The identified tools on flakes predominantly consist of side and transversal scrapers, including Mousterian points.
The raw material economy differs between sectors, particularly regarding tools on flakes, which are exclusively made of silicite in the North sector, while being made of both quartz and silicite in the South sector. Shaping of pebble/cobble tools and peaks is only evident in the South sector. However, in both sectors, there is a dichotomy in the technological choices between quartz and silicite, with each material reflecting specific technical preferences. In the environments of southwestern France where quartz and quartzite are most abundant, different strategies for managing raw materials were employed: identical, differentiated, or mixed. The Brive-Laroche sites exemplify differentiated quartz and silicite management, comparable to sites such as Coudoulous I, La Borde, Mas-Viel in the Lot or Bois-de-l'Hopital at Saint-Sulpice in the Tarn.
This differentiated economy reflects production strategies and adapted transformations, linked to resource management and the mobility of human groups in southwestern France during the Late Middle Paleolithic.
Des occupations de la première partie du Pléistocène supérieur ont été identifiées sur le site archéologique de Brive-Laroche-Aérodrome (Corrèze, France) dans le cadre d’une fouille préventive. Les données livrées par cette opération permettent de s’interroger sur les comportements techno-économiques des groupes néandertaliens entre le Périgord et les contreforts du Massif central, dans un environnement géologique particulier où dominent les roches détritiques gréseuses. Deux emprises de fouille ont été explorées en contexte de plaine alluviale (nommées Nord et Sud) et les différentes nappes de vestiges indiquent une présence des hommes du SIM 5 à la première moitié du SIM 4. Les données géoarchéologiques et chronologiques montrent une plus grande dispersion des indices de présence — dans le temps comme dans l’espace — pour le secteur Sud. Les corpus lithiques témoignent de l’utilisation de roches disponibles dans l’environnement local (<10 km du site), principalement des galets de quartz. Toutefois, entre 20 % et 30 % du matériel est confectionné en silicites importées de zones plus lointaines, situées à une trentaine de kilomètres. Les chaînes opératoires mises en œuvre sur ces matériaux sont segmentées, à l’inverse de celles concernant le quartz dont l’exploitation a eu lieu sur le site. L’économie des matières premières diffère d’un secteur à l’autre, avec une dichotomie de choix technologiques pour le traitement des quartz et silicites. Elle est le témoin de stratégies de production et de transformation influencées par la gestion des ressources et la mobilité des groupes humains dans le Sud-Ouest au Paléolithique moyen récent.
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