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Andrea Zerboni - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Mesolithic Site Formation and Palaeoenvironment Along the White Nile (Central Sudan)
African Archaeological Review, 2011Co-Authors: Sandro Salvatori, Donatella Usai, Andrea ZerboniAbstract:The Mesolithic period represents a key stage in the human history of Sudan, but its complexity is not yet fully understood. Since the beginning of prehistoric research in this region, efforts were made to understand Mesolithic site formation processes and post-depositional disturbances. Responsibility for the destruction of most Mesolithic sites’ deposits rests mainly on later use of the ancient mound-like settlements as burial places by Meroitic and post-Meroitic people. Excavations at several sites in the El Salha and Al Khiday areas (White Nile, south of Omdurman) have provided recent progress in our knowledge of Mesolithic living structures in their palaeoenvironmental contexts. Detailed stratigraphic and geoarchaeological investigations enabled us to distinguish, within the sequences identified at excavated mounds, the existence of basal archaeological strata still in situ that had remained unaffected by subsequent anthropogenic disturbances and to understand the functional aspects of several archaeological features associated with Mesolithic living floors. This offers the opportunity to reassess the Mesolithic cultural sequence in the region and reconsider some statements on the economic and social aspects of Mesolithic life and landscape exploitation strategies. La période mésolithique représente une étape clé dans l’histoire humaine du Soudan, mais elle n’est pas encore comprise dans toute sa complexité. Depuis le début des recherches préhistoriques dans cette région, les travaux ont cherché à élucider les processus de formation et perturbations post-dépositionnelles des sites mésolithiqes. Malheureusement, les dépôts de la plupart de ces sites sont perturbés. Ces destructions resultent en majorité de la réutilisation postérieure des buttes d’habitat en tant que nécropoles par les peuples Méroitiques et post-Méroitiques. Les fouilles menées sur de nombreux sites des régions d’El Salha et d’Al Khiday (Nil Blanc, sud d’Omdurman) ont pourtant ouvert de nouvelles perspectives dans notre connaissance des structures d’habitat du Mésolithique par rapport à leur contexte paléo-environnemental. Les recherches stratigraphiques et géo-archéologiques détaillées permettent non seulement de distinguer, dans les séquences d’occupation étudiées sur les buttes fouillées, l’existence de couches archéologiques basales in situ restées intouchées par les perturbations anthropogéniques subséquentes, mais aussi de comprendre les aspects fonctionnels de plusieurs structures fixes associées aux sols d’habitats mésolithiques. Ceci offre l’opportunité de réévaluer la séquence culturelle mésolithique de la region et de reconsidérer quelques constats sur les aspects économiques et sociaux du Mésolithique ainsi que les stratégies d’exploitation du milieu.
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Mesolithic Site Formation and Palaeoenvironment Along the White Nile (Central Sudan)
African Archaeological Review, 2011Co-Authors: Sandro Salvatori, Donatella Usai, Andrea ZerboniAbstract:The Mesolithic period represents a key stage in the human history of Sudan, but its complexity is not yet fully understood. Since the beginning of prehistoric research in this region, efforts were made to understand Mesolithic site formation processes and post-depositional disturbances. Responsibility for the destruction of most Mesolithic sites’ deposits rests mainly on later use of the ancient mound-like settlements as burial places by Meroitic and post-Meroitic people. Excavations at several sites in the El Salha and Al Khiday areas (White Nile, south of Omdurman) have provided recent progress in our knowledge of Mesolithic living structures in their palaeoenvironmental contexts. Detailed stratigraphic and geoarchaeological investigations enabled us to distinguish, within the sequences identified at excavated mounds, the existence of basal archaeological strata still in situ that had remained unaffected by subsequent anthropogenic disturbances and to understand the functional aspects of several archaeological features associated with Mesolithic living floors. This offers the opportunity to reassess the Mesolithic cultural sequence in the region and reconsider some statements on the economic and social aspects of Mesolithic life and landscape exploitation strategies.
Elsa Defranould - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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The Montclus rock shelter (Gard) and the continuity hypothesis between 1st and 2nd Mesolithic in Southern France
Quaternary International, 2016Co-Authors: Thomas Perrin, Elsa DefranouldAbstract:Excavated in the 1960s, the Baume de Montclus rock shelter (Gard, France) contained a significant stratigraphic sequence covering the entire Mesolithic. The oldest layers (layer 30 to 17) belong to the first Mesolithic, and contain particular hyper-microlithic flint industries (Montclusian facies of the Sauveterrian). The overlying layers 14 to 7, underlying the Neolithic ones (layers 5 to 3), document a second Mesolithic sequence (Castelnovian). Layers 16 and 15 are the stratigraphical transition between those two main sets. The lithic industries from those two layers have characteristic elements referred both to the first and second Mesolithic. Generally, this duality was understood as evidence of the existence of a local transition facies between Sauveterrian and Castelnovian, and thus, of a permanent regional occupation. However, the analysis of spatial and stratigraphical data of those two layers 16 and 15, as well as that of their lithic industries, question this hypothesis. There is more probably a real break between the two main sets of occupation, Sauveterrian and Castelnovian. As generally noticed elsewhere in Southern France, we cannot highlight a transition facies between first and second Mesolithic. Consequently, the durability of human occupations at the end of the 6th millennium cal. BC in this region of Southern France is questioned.
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Techno-functional approach to a technological breakthrough: the second Mesolithic at Montclus rock shelter (Gard, France)
2015Co-Authors: Elsa Defranould, Sylvie Philibert, Thomas PerrinAbstract:In the sixth millennium cal BC, in southern France, the spread of blade and trapeze industries ended a high stability of the technical and economic choices of Epipalaeolithic (Azilian) and First Mesolithic (Sauveterrian) groups. With the Second Mesolithic, the lithic technical system, technical standards but also the conceptual scheme substantially modified. To better characterize and understand these changes, a new techno-functional analysis was carried out applied to the lithic industries of the Montclus rock-shelter (Gard, France), which offers a significant stratigraphic sequence covering the whole of the Mesolithic (Montclusianfacies of the Sauveterrian and Castelnovian). In this paper, we discuss some aspects of this technological breakthrough in the organization of lithic production and functional behaviour during the Second Mesolithic. We will also discuss the technic evolution of those productions during the beginning of the Castelnovian sequence.
Sandro Salvatori - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Mesolithic Site Formation and Palaeoenvironment Along the White Nile (Central Sudan)
African Archaeological Review, 2011Co-Authors: Sandro Salvatori, Donatella Usai, Andrea ZerboniAbstract:The Mesolithic period represents a key stage in the human history of Sudan, but its complexity is not yet fully understood. Since the beginning of prehistoric research in this region, efforts were made to understand Mesolithic site formation processes and post-depositional disturbances. Responsibility for the destruction of most Mesolithic sites’ deposits rests mainly on later use of the ancient mound-like settlements as burial places by Meroitic and post-Meroitic people. Excavations at several sites in the El Salha and Al Khiday areas (White Nile, south of Omdurman) have provided recent progress in our knowledge of Mesolithic living structures in their palaeoenvironmental contexts. Detailed stratigraphic and geoarchaeological investigations enabled us to distinguish, within the sequences identified at excavated mounds, the existence of basal archaeological strata still in situ that had remained unaffected by subsequent anthropogenic disturbances and to understand the functional aspects of several archaeological features associated with Mesolithic living floors. This offers the opportunity to reassess the Mesolithic cultural sequence in the region and reconsider some statements on the economic and social aspects of Mesolithic life and landscape exploitation strategies. La période mésolithique représente une étape clé dans l’histoire humaine du Soudan, mais elle n’est pas encore comprise dans toute sa complexité. Depuis le début des recherches préhistoriques dans cette région, les travaux ont cherché à élucider les processus de formation et perturbations post-dépositionnelles des sites mésolithiqes. Malheureusement, les dépôts de la plupart de ces sites sont perturbés. Ces destructions resultent en majorité de la réutilisation postérieure des buttes d’habitat en tant que nécropoles par les peuples Méroitiques et post-Méroitiques. Les fouilles menées sur de nombreux sites des régions d’El Salha et d’Al Khiday (Nil Blanc, sud d’Omdurman) ont pourtant ouvert de nouvelles perspectives dans notre connaissance des structures d’habitat du Mésolithique par rapport à leur contexte paléo-environnemental. Les recherches stratigraphiques et géo-archéologiques détaillées permettent non seulement de distinguer, dans les séquences d’occupation étudiées sur les buttes fouillées, l’existence de couches archéologiques basales in situ restées intouchées par les perturbations anthropogéniques subséquentes, mais aussi de comprendre les aspects fonctionnels de plusieurs structures fixes associées aux sols d’habitats mésolithiques. Ceci offre l’opportunité de réévaluer la séquence culturelle mésolithique de la region et de reconsidérer quelques constats sur les aspects économiques et sociaux du Mésolithique ainsi que les stratégies d’exploitation du milieu.
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Mesolithic Site Formation and Palaeoenvironment Along the White Nile (Central Sudan)
African Archaeological Review, 2011Co-Authors: Sandro Salvatori, Donatella Usai, Andrea ZerboniAbstract:The Mesolithic period represents a key stage in the human history of Sudan, but its complexity is not yet fully understood. Since the beginning of prehistoric research in this region, efforts were made to understand Mesolithic site formation processes and post-depositional disturbances. Responsibility for the destruction of most Mesolithic sites’ deposits rests mainly on later use of the ancient mound-like settlements as burial places by Meroitic and post-Meroitic people. Excavations at several sites in the El Salha and Al Khiday areas (White Nile, south of Omdurman) have provided recent progress in our knowledge of Mesolithic living structures in their palaeoenvironmental contexts. Detailed stratigraphic and geoarchaeological investigations enabled us to distinguish, within the sequences identified at excavated mounds, the existence of basal archaeological strata still in situ that had remained unaffected by subsequent anthropogenic disturbances and to understand the functional aspects of several archaeological features associated with Mesolithic living floors. This offers the opportunity to reassess the Mesolithic cultural sequence in the region and reconsider some statements on the economic and social aspects of Mesolithic life and landscape exploitation strategies.
Thomas Perrin - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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The Montclus rock shelter (Gard) and the continuity hypothesis between 1st and 2nd Mesolithic in Southern France
Quaternary International, 2016Co-Authors: Thomas Perrin, Elsa DefranouldAbstract:Excavated in the 1960s, the Baume de Montclus rock shelter (Gard, France) contained a significant stratigraphic sequence covering the entire Mesolithic. The oldest layers (layer 30 to 17) belong to the first Mesolithic, and contain particular hyper-microlithic flint industries (Montclusian facies of the Sauveterrian). The overlying layers 14 to 7, underlying the Neolithic ones (layers 5 to 3), document a second Mesolithic sequence (Castelnovian). Layers 16 and 15 are the stratigraphical transition between those two main sets. The lithic industries from those two layers have characteristic elements referred both to the first and second Mesolithic. Generally, this duality was understood as evidence of the existence of a local transition facies between Sauveterrian and Castelnovian, and thus, of a permanent regional occupation. However, the analysis of spatial and stratigraphical data of those two layers 16 and 15, as well as that of their lithic industries, question this hypothesis. There is more probably a real break between the two main sets of occupation, Sauveterrian and Castelnovian. As generally noticed elsewhere in Southern France, we cannot highlight a transition facies between first and second Mesolithic. Consequently, the durability of human occupations at the end of the 6th millennium cal. BC in this region of Southern France is questioned.
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Techno-functional approach to a technological breakthrough: the second Mesolithic at Montclus rock shelter (Gard, France)
2015Co-Authors: Elsa Defranould, Sylvie Philibert, Thomas PerrinAbstract:In the sixth millennium cal BC, in southern France, the spread of blade and trapeze industries ended a high stability of the technical and economic choices of Epipalaeolithic (Azilian) and First Mesolithic (Sauveterrian) groups. With the Second Mesolithic, the lithic technical system, technical standards but also the conceptual scheme substantially modified. To better characterize and understand these changes, a new techno-functional analysis was carried out applied to the lithic industries of the Montclus rock-shelter (Gard, France), which offers a significant stratigraphic sequence covering the whole of the Mesolithic (Montclusianfacies of the Sauveterrian and Castelnovian). In this paper, we discuss some aspects of this technological breakthrough in the organization of lithic production and functional behaviour during the Second Mesolithic. We will also discuss the technic evolution of those productions during the beginning of the Castelnovian sequence.
Alain Benard - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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fontainebleau rock art ile de france france an exceptional rock art group dated to the Mesolithic critical return on the lithic material discovered in three decorated rock shelters
Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 2017Co-Authors: Colas Gueret, Alain BenardAbstract:Abstract Since the 19th century, the so-called “Fontainebleau rock art” have been recognized in small cavities of the southern part of the Ile de France, in a rare context typified by accumulations of eroded sandstone boulders. The dating of this non-figurative art, characterized by numerous grooved lines and grids, has always been the subject of much speculation. In the last thirty years, an attribution to the Mesolithic has been the most widely accepted interpretation owing to the discovery of highly worn lithic objects, considered as engraving tools and associated with Mesolithic artifacts in several rock shelters. This paper aims to question the Mesolithic hypothesis in the light of a new methodological and archaeological approach. First, a use-wear analysis of several hundred worn tools from three rock shelters confirms their connection with the numerous lines grooved in the sandstone walls. In a second time, a critical review of the archaeological data consolidates the Mesolithic dating. The engraving tools are always associated with a diagnostic industry, but the typology of the microliths discovered in the archaeological layers indicates mixture between several phases of the regional Mesolithic. Luckily, the typo-technological analyses of the engraving tool blanks highlight the systematic re-use of Early Mesolithic tools and bladelets as opposed to Late Mesolithic artifacts which are never worn by sandstone grooving. Considering the recurrence of these observations for the three studied rock shelters, the Early Mesolithic dating of the Fontainebleau rock art can be considered as a solid hypothesis, identifying the southern part of Ile-de-France as one of the major regions in Europe as concerns Mesolithic rock art.