Stone Age archaeological shell-middens in the Atlantic France : an overview of prehistoric marine pluriactivities.
Author(s): Catherine Dupont
Year: 2025
Summary
This is an abstract from the "<html>Twenty Thousand Leagues (and Years!) under the Sea:<i> </i>Exploring the Place of Seashores in Prehistoric Socio-economic Systems</html>" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.
The marine activities of the last hunter-gatherers on the French Atlantic coast have long been neglected by researchers. This is due to the abundance of lithic industries and the value placed on hunting. These industries also make it possible to establish the relative chronology of settlements. In recent years, the excavation and meticulous sorting of shell-middens have renewed our knowledge of the way of life of these prehistoric coastal populations. Shell-middens sites are places of death, but also places of life. They contain burials inside shell middens. People also cooked and lived on these shell-middens. These archaeological sites represent concentrations of waste and therefore evidence of various activities, many of which are linked to the sea and its foreshore. While these activities do not require elaborate tools, they do require a great deal of knowledge of the marine environments where for example, marine animals can hide (under seaweed, in sand or mud, in rocks, etc.). Observing modern island populations allows us to describe their level of knowledge of their maritime territory. It can provide clues to understand past choices in terms of the diversity and abundance of certain marine resources.
Cite this Record
Stone Age archaeological shell-middens in the Atlantic France : an overview of prehistoric marine pluriactivities.. Catherine Dupont. Presented at The 90th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. 2025 ( tDAR id: 509208)
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Abstract Id(s): 50448