Insights into site formation processes at La-Roche-à-Pierrot, Saint Césaire (Charente-Maritime, France): A microstratigraphic perspective

Summary

The extinction of the Neanderthals remains an open question and the current chronological, archaeological and paleoclimatic evidence reflects complex scenarios. In this context, southwestern Europe is an interesting region because as it represents not only a "dead end" for the east-to-west migration of anatomically modern humans but may have acted as a potential 'refugium' for local Neanderthal populations. Several sites in the region play a key role in ongoing debates concerning the Middle-to-Upper Paleolithic transition. Some of these have been studied from a geoarchaeological perspective but others not. Therefore, there are still uncertainties in certain archaeo-stratigraphic sequences and gaps in our knowledge of regional paleoenvironments.

Here we present the first results of a microstratigraphic study of La Roche à Pierrot, Saint-Césaire. Discovered in 1976 and excavated for 10 years (1977-1987) by François Lévêque, this small rockshelter yielded a stratified deposit containing the complete Middle-to-Palaeolithic transition, as well as a relatively complete Neanderthal skeleton purportedly associated with an Upper Palaeolithic lithic assemblage. Micromorphological analysis of 12 sediment blocks collected from different profiles exposed during renewed excavations at the site provide important new information for discussing the changing configuration of the site and associated site formation processes.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Archaeology in Context: The Influence of the Geoarchaeological Career of Paul Goldberg   •
• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage