The Aurignacian open-air campsite of Régismont-le-Haut (Hérault, France)

Summary

Régismont-le-Haut (Hérault, France) counts among the rare open-air Aurignacian campsites in southwestern France having both spatially conserved activity areas and explicit traces of a constructed living space. This minimally disturbed single habitation occupies two perpendicular paleochannels, whose geometry separates the site into two main zones.

Throughout its excavation numerous combustion structures (27), all being surrounded by differentially diffuse archaeological material, have been discovered within the two paleochannels. The density and nature of archaeological materials, the character and location of the hearths, and their association with features indicating a possibly structured living space (in particular possible post-holes and associated wedging stones), have allowed us to characterize the two zones. The first contains several polyvalent units, which we interpret as a domestic zone. The second contains several structures having seemingly specialized purposes, including a probable bison primary butchery area and several ochre processing and use areas, which we thusly interpret as a multi-function workshop zone. The fact that all of the material is encased in a single occupation surface, along with the seeming coherence and complementarity between the various structures and zones, pleads in favor of a single episode of occupation, likely in the form of a relatively large seasonal residential campsite.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)   •
• Space and time in the Upper Palaeolithic: a mixed traditions approach to the study of prehistory

Keywords

Spatial Coverage