Mesolithic and Neolithic cultures coexisting in the upper Rhone valley.

Mesolithic and Neolithic cultures coexisting in the upper Rhone valley. Introduction The Rhone valley joins the Mediterranean to the lands of westernEurope and is marked by a wide range of cultures all through laterprehistory prehistory,period of human evolution before writing was invented and records kept. The term was coined by Daniel Wilson in 1851. It is followed by protohistory, the period for which we have some records but must still rely largely on archaeological evidence to . Since some aspects of the cultural material refer to theMediterranean world, they can be used to track the influx of new ideasfrom the south up the Rhone corridor. The upper Rhone basin also enjoysa strategic location at the point where the cultural current from theMediterranean joins that from the Danube. The archaeological evidencefrom this region has therefore a double importance: not only to definethe societies present in the region itself, but to characteriseindirectly those cultural groups whose influence was bought to bear,with greater or lesser strength, upon them. At the Grotte du Gardon stratified stratified/strat��i��fied/ (strat��i-fid) formed or arranged in layers. strat��i��fiedadj.Arranged in the form of layers or strata. deposits have been defined whichrun from 5300 to 2200 BC. They have allowed the construction of asequence of lithic lith��ic?1?adj.Consisting of or relating to stone or rock.Adj. 1. lithic - of or containing lithium2. lithic - relating to or composed of stone; "lithic sandstone" industries which can be applied generally to theNeolithic cultural groups in the centre east of France and to theproblem of the transition from the Mesolithic. The Grotte du Gardon The Grotte du Gardon is situated at altitude of nearly 380 m at thefoot of a limestone cliff in the valley of the Balmeaux in the extremesouth-west of the Jura. The archaeological site (Figure 1) lies mainlyin a wide porch about 240 metres square which fronts a network ofunderground caves. Most of the lower parts of this network as so farknown are in standing water, but the upper area next to the porch isgenerally dry and saw human occupation. Water from inside the cave couldnevertheless inundate in��un��date?tr.v. in��un��dat��ed, in��un��dat��ing, in��un��dates1. To cover with water, especially floodwaters.2. the upper levels and it was one of these rarefloods which led to the discovery of the archaeological site on 9December 1954. The main excavation campaign took place from 1986 to 2000under the direction of Jean-Louis Voruz (Bois-Gerets et al. 1991), andbrought to light a particularly well stratified archaeological deposit(Figure 1). [FIGURE 1 OMITTED] Most of the layers consisted of silty occupation levels or episodesof flooding represented (in the key cases at least) by more or lessbedded sands. Micromorphology was used to identify or refine a number ofdifferent formation processes, such as short-lived occupation, long-termhabitation HABITATION, civil law. It was the right of a person to live in the house of another without prejudice to the property. 2. It differed from a usufruct in this, that the usufructuary might have applied the house to any purpose, as, a store or manufactory; whereas , sheep folds and others (Sordoillet 1999-Perrin et al. 2002).A reliable chronological framework was provided by more than 70radiocarbon dates on samples taken from most layers (summarised inFigure 2). The sequence of assemblages is remarkable, in that althoughthe layers were deposited in chronological order, artefacts ofMesolithic tradition are found with Middle Neolithic material. This isinterpreted as implying that peoples of two traditions were in contactwith each other. [FIGURE 2 OMITTED] The earliest occupation, layers 61-58 (Figures 1, 2) There were traces of human occupation in the earliest layersdefined (60 and 59), but they were insufficient for any culturalattribution. The first well characterised layer was 58 which was datedbetween 5300 and 4900 and contained not only struck flint and workedanimal bone, but sherds of pottery decorated with grooves and chevrons,and tentatively associated with wares from Limbourg (Nicod 1991;Jeunesse et alii 1991; Manen 1997). The stone debitage The term debitage refers to the totality of waste material produced during lithic reduction and the production of chipped stone tools. This assemblage includes, but is not limited to, different kinds of lithic flakes, shatter, and production errors and rejects. suggests theproduction of small blades of standard width, removed from selected highquality flint cores by indirect percussion. The most characteristicimplement of layer 58 was the tranchet arrowhead (Figure 3). These weremade by truncating a blade, splitting the pieces to make them thinnerand retouching the edges (standard BG32: Perrin 2003). These artefactsare identical to those found in the assemblages with early Neolithicimpressed wares in the south (two microburins and three arrowheads of alatter type found in layer 58 can probably be considered intrusive). Theproduction of blades by indirect percussion, and their working intogeometric shapes for use in arrow-heads and sickles is typical of earlyNeolithic in Provence (Binder 1987). The industry remains essentiallythe same throughout the period represented by impressed wares, apartfrom an improvement in the quality of raw materials procured and aincreasing robustness of the blades (Binder 1987, 1998). [FIGURE 3 OMITTED] In the central Rhone valley, only layer 6 of the Baumed'Oulins has so far produced a similar assemblage (Beeching 1980;Beeching et al. 1995; Binder 1998). Here two separate chains ofmanufacture were distinguished, one producing blades from importedmaterials and the other irregular blades and flakes from local flint.However laminar laminar/lam��i��nar/ (lam��i-nar)1. pertaining to a lamina or laminae.2. laminated.3. of, pertaining to, or being a streamlined, smooth fluid flow. blades may also be fashioned from local flint, implyingthat the source of the raw material is less significant than what isdone with it. A similar situation was encountered in Baume de Ronze,where A. Beeching (1980: 63) found high quality blades made fromimported flint among an industry producing flakes and laminar bladesfrom local materials. In Languedoc, the industries mainly make use oflocal materials (Briois I997), and only in the most recent contexts inthe east does imported yellow flint make an appearance (Camprafaud c.20to 16 and Font-Juvenal c. 12--Briois 1997, 436). The assemblage consistsmainly of flakes obtained by direct percussion direct percussionn.See immediate percussion. which then provide themost commonly used tools. It seems therefore that the middle Rhone valley, Provence andLanguedoc all exhibit two productions in parallel, one local and oneindistinguishable from the early Neolithic in the south. The latter canbe seen also in the North Alps, at the Grande-Rivoire (layers B1 andB2a--Picavet 1991) and the rock-shelter at Aulp-du-Seuil (C1--Bintz etal. 1999). Thus from the Mediterranean coast to the slopes of the Jura,the farming population prepared their flint following similarmanufacturing procedures at precisely the same period in the earlyNeolithic. A Mesolithic reprise re��prise?n.1. Musica. A repetition of a phrase or verse.b. A return to an original theme.2. A recurrence or resumption of an action.tr.v. The formation of layer 58 was possibly owed to inundations, andthis may have been true of some of the layers 57-54 which succeeded(Figure 2). However, layer 57, which may relate to the top surface oflayer 58, also showed evidence for burning in situ In place. When something is "in situ," it is in its original location. and may represent ahearth. Layer 54 seemed to be stratigraphically intact and a radiocarbondate of 5400-5000 BC has been obtained from it. The assemblages fromthese two layers (57 and 54) were small, not more than 300 objects inall, but significant in that they refer to Mesolithic traditions. Theimplication is that Mesolithic communities and Neolithic groups wereliving at the same time in the same territory. The assemblage from layers 57 and 54 is mainly dedicated to smallblades, but includes asymmetric arrowheads with a biracial bi��ra��cial?adj.1. Of, for, or consisting of members of two races.2. Having parents of two different races.bi��ra concave ConcaveProperty that a curve is below a straight line connecting two end points. If the curve falls above the straight line, it is called convex. base(standard BG 15, Perrin 2003: Figure 3). These arrowheads havesimilarities to the pointe de Bavans (Aired 1984), the pointes deSonchamp and to other types with asymmetric triangles with opposed flatretouches (Marchand 1999), normally dated to the last phases of theMesolithic (Thevenin 1998). The typology of Mesolithic implements in theJura is well studied (Thdvenin 1990, 1991, 1998; Frelin-Khatib &Thevenin 2000), but the understanding and classification of technicalprocesses of manufacture is less advanced (Seara 1998; Pelegrin &Riche 1999). Typological data in general refer only to arrowheads whichare considered the best chronological and cultural markers (Bintz et al.1995). A statistical analysis of the industries from published sites hasshown that the end of the Mesolithic can be divided into two phases: onedominated by asymmetric triangular and trapezoidal arrowheads, with asecond final phase in which the symmetric trapezium trapezium/tra��pe��zi��um/ (-um) [L.]1. an irregular, four-sided figure.2. the most lateral bone of the distal row of carpal bones.tra��pe��zi��umn. pl. makes an appearance(Perrin 2002, 2003). The number of tools present in layers 57 and 54 istoo small to be included in this analysis, but it can be pointed outthat the arrowheads present are those which characterise the laterMesolithic in the Jura. By contrast, these kinds of arrowhead neverappear in the assemblages of the Early Neolithic. There is someconfirmation of these attributions from an examination of the quality offlint and the type of production technique used (Figure 3). It can beseen that while layer 58 clusters with the other Neolithic layers, layer57 and to a lesser extent layer 54, are outliers. Thus while layer 58 may be culturally associated with the southernearly Neolithic, layer 57 and 54 seem to represent a cultural referenceto the local Mesolithic. The layers do not seem to have been produced byflooding or redeposition Noun 1. redeposition - deposition from one deposit to anotherdeposition, deposit - the natural process of laying down a deposit of something (which would explain their inversion), and itseems legitimate therefore to interpret them as successive occupationsby groups who were culturally Neolithic and then Mesolithic. The contextin both cases could have been the use of the cave by relative outsiders:at first by newcomers and the by a subsequently marginalised traditionalgroup. Transition to the middle Neolithic Layers 52 to 49 allows us to address the problem of the transitionbetween the early and middle Neolithic. The data from the grotte duGardon (and other deposits) lead to an association between a specifictype of lithic assemblage with ceramics of the Saint-Uze type (Beechinget al. 1997). Both lithics and ceramics link to the early Neolithic. Butalthough the mode of producing blades by indirect percussion on goodquality flint conforms with early Neolithic practice, the type of toolsbeing produced--asymmetric arrowheads with a biracial concavebase--recall the Mesolithic and suggest the continued gradualassimilation of the last hunter-gatherers of the Jura. A similar modelwas advanced from the bone assemblage of the Grotte des Planches(Petrequin et al. 1985). Thus, rather than representing a ceramic style,Saint-Uze could refer to a culture which defined the transition betweenearly and middle Neolithic and saw the last vestiges of the Mesolithic.It was superseded in the middle Rhone valley by the Chasseen culturearound 4500 cal BC. Conclusion These observations offer a new model for the"neolithization" process in the upper Rhone valley (Figure 4).The process begins around 5800-5600 cal BC, with the first Neolithicinstallations on the Mediterranean coast of France, indicated inProvence by the presence of ceramica impressa originating from northernItaly (Binder 1995), and in Languedoc by Ligurian types (Roudil 1990;Manen 2000). The Rhone valley is occupied by the Castelnovien cultureand the Cardial culture is making an appearance. Around 5600 cal BC, theCardial culture is spreading along the coast and by 5500 is establishedup the Rhone. All this time, Mesolithic populations still seem to bepresent in Jura. There was probably a profitable interaction between thetwo cultural worlds, until from around 4900 to 4700 Mesolithic flintmaking was gradually absorbed into the Neolithic mode of production. 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