Jean Combier, Mikołaj UrbanowskiThe new Palaeolithic site: Le Moulin, Saint-Gengoux-le-National.

Abstract: A new open-airarchaeological site has beendiscovered. The preliminaryexamination of the flintartefacts found on the surfacehas been made. It suggests anexistence of the atelier ofpossibly Lower Palaeolithicage.

The site was discovered in avillage of Le Moulin, northof Saint-Gengoux-le-National, Saône-et-Loire[Fig 1.]. During theexamination of lithic rawmaterials resources used inprehistory of southBourgogne. The site islocalized on the plaindirectly at the outcrop oftertiary flint [Fig 2.]. A smallsurface assemblage of 72flint artefacts has beencollected from the area ofabout 1ha.

Description of theassemblage

Among the 23 cores andpossibly core-tools the mostnumerous are cores of moreor less conical shape (7).Most of them represent anopportunistic way ofdebitage along the circularflaking edge, whereas theflat, upper site of the core isnot the object of any specialpreparation or exploitation.Only two cores from suchcategory show distantrelation to Levalloistechnology (in the meaningof E. Boëda's definition),however, even regarding

these cores it seems that notonly the upper, "Levallois"plane of the core isexploited, but all possibleplanes.

Three cores can be classifiedas the "flat-discoid",however at least one of themis probably the half-productof the amygdaloid bifaceshaping [Fig. 3,3]. One corefrom this group shows someaspects of the Levalloistechnology, but againwithout any traces ofremovals of the typicalLevallois products. Only onecore we can put into thecategory of bi-conical. Fourspecimens we can classify asthe edge-cores or chopping-cores, which at this site seem

to represent the end stadiumof the debitage rather than adistinct core category. Themean weight of such cores[274g] in comparison to themean weight of all cores[528g] confirms thisobservation. Similarly, thethree cores from the"polyhedral" (non-standardized) category seemto represent the very firststage of core exploitation asbeing remarkably bigger[mean weight – 1050g] thanthe rest. Among the fivepieces put into the "diverse"group two seem to be rathertools or rough-outs made oncores or big flakes than aregular cores. Their bizarreforms do not have anycomparison to the

1

Fig. 1 The localization of the site.

Palaeolithic or Neolithicbifacial forms.

Examination of 59 flakesshows, that the technique ofconical core is dominant inwhole assemblage. Majorityof flakes (56%) have aparallel pattern of dorsalscars, which indicates thatremovals were made in short,parallel sequences ratherthan using the alternatetechnique, typical for discoidcores.

Remarkable feature of theassemblage is also theexistence (17%) of flakeswith elongated, sub-laminarshape (length to width ratioin this group is only 1,4, butmost pieces are broken).Two pieces show traces ofpossible bifacial shaping.Virtually no flakes can be

classified as the product ofthe Levallois method,however 14% of the pieces

show a centripetal dorsalscar pattern. As we shouldexpect for the atelier-typesite, nearly 1/3 of all flakesare cortical or sub-cortical.However, there is aremarkably lack of the big,cortical flaks from the veryearly stage of the coreexploitation. Thefrequentation of fully corticalflakes is about 5% and theirmean weight (45g) is similarto mean weight of all flakes.Taking into account the sizeof cores and one big corticalpiece (520g) found in thecollection we should assume,that big flakes were probablythe desired half-product –removed from the site orrefashioned during the toolpreparation.

The atelier-type of the site isconfirmed by the quantityand character of flake tools –only 1/4 of them (15 pieces)have an intentional retouch.Tools are non-standardized,and on the typologicalground most of them (8)should be put into thedifferent groups of scrapers –mostly side scrapers andtransversal scrapers. Lessnumerous (4) are formsconvergent (transversal,déjeté or convergentscrapers), and notch anddenticulate tools (3).Retouches are slight andlooked as if they were aneffect of ad-hoc technologyrather than deliberate tool-production.

Generally, the technique ofdebitage in all theassemblage seems not to bevery sophisticated – the hardhammer technology isdominant with only a fewsigns of soft hammer bifacialshaping. Nearly 30% ofpieces are broken, a lot ofthem show signs of flakingmistakes – removals withhinged or steppedtermination, attempts toflaking at the angle greaterthan 90% etc. Some of theseproblems are due to thewrong raw material selection– remarkably number of thecores was flaking despite theinternal cracks or flaws. Theefficiency of debitage, basedon the comparison of meanweight of nucleus (528g) tothe mean weight of flakes(43g) is relatively low –about 12 flakes for one core,and if we take into account

2

Fig. 2 The site.

the possible removal of theheavy flakes from the site –even lower. On the otherhand, the mean slim ratio(length to thickness of theflakes) of about 6,3, as wellas the mean exterior angleabout 78° and the existenceof sub-blade forms differ thisassemblage from the"primitive" or "Clactonian"industries.

Conclusion

The preliminary examinationsuggests, that the assemblagefrom the surface collection is

homogenous. There is adistinct dominance of thetechnique of the conical coredebitage. There are signs ofutilization of big flakes as ahalf-products and bifacialproduction – both featurescan be connected. The lackof the typical Levalloismethod and scarcity oftypical discoid (bi-conical)debitage differ thisassemblage from the middlePalaeolithic technologicalspectrum. All of thissuggests older age of theartefacts. To sum up, it looksas if the new site was a

Lower Palaeolithic, possiblyAcheulean atelier connectedwith the flint outcrop. Theopportunity of examining thestrategies of raw materialexploitation and usage,poorly known for this period,makes the site of Le Moulinvery interesting. Certainly itshould become an object ofregular excavation.

References:

Boëda, E., 1994, Le conceptLevallois: variabilité desméthodes

3

Fig. 3 The sample of artifacts: 1-2 scrapers, 3- possible hand-axe rough out.