Abstract
Many cavities in the Verdon Valley (Southeastern France) have been used as shelters by prehistoric people, for at least 400 ka. The Neanderthals occupied some of these cavities, especially in the middle and lower gorges of the river, and sometimes also left a few artifacts at open air spots. Three caves or shelters yielded significant lithic assemblages which allow tracing the evolutionary trends of the technical behaviors: the Baume Bonne cave, the Abri (rock shelter) Breuil and the Sainte Maxime cave. The faunal remains, often badly preserved, mostly comprise Ibex, Horse and Bovids. It is to be noted that Ursus spelaeus occupied some of the caves in alternation with Neanderthals. The late Middle Paleolithic, considered as the lithic industrial complex of the typical Neanderthals, actually results, in this region, from a gradual evolution of the technology, as shown in the long sequence of the Baume Bonne cave. The Levallois core reduction method punctually appears right from the MIS 8, but starts developing progressively in the second half of the MIS 6, in association with the selection of better quality, exotic raw materials. It becomes a common practice, in the Verdon Valley, from the end of the MIS 5, yet in shares with other methods like discoid or opportunistic/direct knapping; this variety of methods may be partly related to the raw materials (good quality flint and quartzite, local as well as exotic, are preferred for the Levallois method). In this technological context, some elongated flakes and blades are produced through uni-bipolar Levallois or semi-turning methods. All the lithic assemblages are rich in scrapers, and this feature was already characteristic of the earlier lower Middle Paleolithic phases. Despite the gaps in the settlement records (absence of people and/or erosion), the lithic technology of the Neanderthals appears to be in continuity with that of their predecessors. If the Verdon Valley has undergone cold climatic phases due to the proximity of the Alps, its relative closeness to the Mediterranean shore (80 km) and easy accessibility from the Rhône corridor through the Durance valley might have maintained certain continuity in human occupations and technical traditions.
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Gagnepain, J., Gaillard, C. (2011). Neanderthal Occupation in the Verdon Valley (Haute-Provence, Southeastern France). In: Conard, N.J., Richter, J. (eds) Neanderthal Lifeways, Subsistence and Technology. Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0415-2_5
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