Program > By author > Gourichon Lionel

The Mediterranean region has yielded major archaeo-stratigraphic sequences dated to the Middle Paleolithic, like the complex of Balzi Rossi in Italian Liguria, the Bau de l'Aubesier and the Hortus in Provence and Languedoc, or the Abric Romaní and Covalejos cave in Spanish Catalonia, among others.

Decades of research carried out on several such sites largely improved our knowledge on Pre-Neanderthal and Neanderthal way of life. However, the heterogeneity of the analyses and the lack of resolution of some data do not always help us to clearly identify changes or continuities in the behavior of these populations.

Here we address this issue by studying the hunting and territorial exploitation strategies of human groups who lived in Mediterranean France. Our research focused on two main parameters, the demographic composition of the hunted animal populations and the seasonality of acquisition activities. In this purpose, we propose to combine classical ageing methods (based on tooth eruption and wear) with dental cementum analysis for providing biological age and slaughter season of the main animal preys (red deer, ibex).

We will present the results of analyses we made for five French sites: the Canalettes and the Rescoundudou in Aveyron (OIS 5a and 5c), the rockshelter of Mandrin in Drôme (OIS 4-3), Pié Lombard (late OIS 5) and the Lazaret Cave (OIS 6) in the Alpes Maritimes. In addition to available data from other major archaeological sequences, the precision of the results thus obtained bring important new information able to shed new light on the socio-economic organization and territorial mobility system of these populations.