http://popups.lib.uliege.be/3041-5527/index.php?id=282 Publications de Auteurs Paul Fernandes fr 0 http://popups.lib.uliege.be/3041-5527/index.php?id=993 In the Mio-Plio-Pleistocene sequence of Casablanca which covers the last six millions years, the oldest lithic assemblages are found in late Lower Pleistocene deposits, circa 1 Ma, in unit L of Thomas Quarry I, and consist of artefacts made from quartzite and flint. They document the First Regional Acheulean (FRA). More recent units from Thomas - Oulad Hamida and Sidi Abderrahmane Quarries yielded numerous remains of Homo heidelbergensis/ rhodesiensis and lithic techno-complexes which characterize the Second Regional Acheulean (SRA) variability. This bi-partition of the Regional Acheuleans offers useful data for comparison with other areas of Africa and Middle East where hominids appeared and developed and should be considered in the debate about the earliest occupations of Europe. The Maghreb is rich in testimonies of ancient populations. Numerous works carried out in Morocco since the beginning of the last century have yielded highly significant results about Quaternary stratigraphy and Prehistory, Palaeontology and Paleoanthropology as well (see Biberson, 1961a and b). However, many questions concerning the very first peopling of the extreme Northwest of Africa still remain unanswered. If an old human presence is indisputable and if we can assume that it could be even older, we still ignore how and when hominins came and which route they followed. Most of the propositions on this topic remains widely speculative. The Casablanca coast has been slowly uplifting since the end of the Miocene and a huge piling of marine and continental formations has preserved an exceptional record (Fig. 1). The Casablanca long sequence begins nearly 6 Ma ago in the Upper Miocene and spreads over the Plio-Quaternary times with an extremely detailed registration of the global climatic cycles (Biberson 1961a; Stearns 1978; Raynal et al. 1995, 1999; Lefèvre 2000; Lefèvre and Raynal 2002). In the upper Early and Middle Pleistocene portion of this late sequence, controlled excavations were performed in the archaeological sites of Sidi Abderrahmane and mainly Thomas-Oulad Hamida Quarries within the France-Morocco cooperative program Casablanca associating the French archaeological “Mission littoral” (Ministère des Affaires Etrangères et du Développement International) and the Moroccan National Institute of Archaeology and Heritage Sciences (Ministry of Culture). They have yielded rich lithic assemblages that represent the only North Africa First Acheulean recorded in an undisputable stratigraphic context (Raynal and Texier, 1989; Raynal et al. 2001). In previous papers, we used, without a great conviction, a classical subdivision of the regional Acheulean in three stages, i.e. lower, middle and upper Acheulean. We prefer here to consider two groups on stratigraphic and chronologic basis : First Regional Acheulean (FRA) and Second Regional Acheulean (SRA) (Raynal et al. in press). When necessary, we will refer to the different units of the New Casablanca Lithostratigraphic Scale (NCLS) which synthetize all observations and interpretations (Texier et al., 1994, 2002; Lefèvre, 2000; Lefèvre and Raynal op cit) (Fig. 5). In the introduction, we will briefly question the supposedly pre-Acheulean artefacts in Western Morocco and then present the key-sites for FRA and SRA at Casablanca. Tue, 03 Dec 2024 15:58:49 +0100 Tue, 03 Dec 2024 16:01:25 +0100 http://popups.lib.uliege.be/3041-5527/index.php?id=993 http://popups.lib.uliege.be/3041-5527/index.php?id=280 The southern French Massif Central has been considered a hostile land for human populations during interglacial and inter-stadial times but has for decades been a privileged field for the study of human movement. Once believed to be devoid of flint nodules suitable for blade production, this region in fact shows an unsuspected wealth of exploitable materials suitable for stone tool production. Although it is true that primary outcrops of flint are few and have restricted surface exposures they are however, now well characterized. Detrital formations coming from the old alluviums of the Loire, Allier and Truyère rivers also supply an abundant stock of geo-materials that were also exploited during the various occupation phases of the region. A renewed methodology based on the principle of an evolutionary chain of silicification, well proven for the Middle Palaeolithic, was applied exhaustively to three archaeological series belonging to the Upper Palaeolithic ; the lithic assemblages of Chauvet cave in the Ardèche, the Proto-Magdalenian of Le Blot rockshelter and the Badegoulian of Le Rond-du-Barry cave both in Haute-Loire. Preliminary results do not confirm the previous observations for the sources of lithic raw materials first proposed in the 1980s for Upper Palaeolithic sites in the Massif Central. Exploitation behaviours for the supply of raw materials vary in accordance with the temporal differences in the cultures. In Chauvet cave, there is a wider acquisition zone for the lithic artefacts compared with that commonly attributed to the Middle Palaeolithic of the Ardèche. The Proto-Magdalenian of le Blot rockshelter in the Massif Central shows that entire flint nodules were transported to the site from the south-west margins of the Paris Basin (Indre-et-Loire and Loir-et-Cher), more than 250 km distant from the Velay site. This suggests that excursions were made into territories further afield than those normally frequented. The Badegoulian occupation of le Rond-du-Barry exploited a local lithic spectrum similar to the one studied at the adjacent Middle Palaeolithic Sainte-Anne I cave site. However, to the local and semi local material is added a variable component of flint from a very distant locality (Loir-et-Cher), illustrating an understanding of the resources available from two distinct and separate environments and planned exploitation of a vast territory. Le sud du Massif central, réputé terre hostile de peuplement interglaciaire et interstadiaire, est depuis des décennies un terrain privilégié pour l’étude des déplacements humains. Considéré par certains auteurs comme dépourvu de silex de modules propices à une production laminaire, ce terrain se révèle a contrario d’une richesse insoupçonnée en matériaux exploitables. S’il est vrai que les gîtes primaires (silex à l’affleurement), maintenant bien caractérisés, y sont peu nombreux et de superficie restreinte, les épandages détritiques issus des alluvions anciennes de la Loire, de l’Allier et de la Truyère fournissent une réserve abondante en géo-matériaux, exploitée lors des différentes phases d’occupation de l’espace régional. Une méthodologie renouvelée fondée sur le principe de chaîne évolutive des silicifications et ayant fait ses preuves pour le Paléolithique moyen, a été appliquée de façon exhaustive à trois séries « emblématiques » du Paléolithique supérieur régional : l’assemblage lithique de la grotte Chauvet en Ardèche, le Protomagdalénien de l’abri du Blot et le Badegoulien de la grotte du Rond-du-Barry en Haute-Loire. Les premiers résultats renouvellent la vision des approvisionnements en silex proposée depuis les années 1980 pour le Paléolithique supérieur du Massif central. Les comportements d’approvisionnement sont différents selon les cultures considérées. À la grotte Chauvet, on note une augmentation des distances de circulation des objets lithiques par rapport à celles définies à partir des séries moustériennes d’Ardèche. Les Protomagdaléniens du Blot pénètrent dans le Massif central avec des rognons de silex provenant des marges sud-ouest du Bassin parisien (Indre-et-Loire et Loir-et-Cher), situées à plus de 250 km du site vellave et donnent l’image d’une expédition en territoire inconnu. En revanche, les Badegouliens du Rond-du-Barry exploitent un spectre minéral local similaire à celui retrouvé dans l’occupation néandertalienne de la grotte de Sainte-Anne I toute proche ; à cette part de matériaux locaux et semi-locaux vient s’ajouter une composante variée de silex d’origines très lointaines (Loir-et-Cher), illustrant une parfaite connaissance de deux territoires distincts et évoquant une exploitation réfléchie et intégrée de deux zones d’un vaste domaine approprié. Thu, 21 Nov 2024 16:52:06 +0100 Thu, 21 Nov 2024 16:52:14 +0100 http://popups.lib.uliege.be/3041-5527/index.php?id=280