Le site mésolithique de Rosnay « Haut-de-Vallière » (Marne): une occupation spécialisée du premier Mésolithique

Content Provider	Semantic Scholar
Author	Souffi, Bénédicte Guéret, Colas Griselin, Sylvain Guillemard, Iris Leduc, Charlotte
Copyright Year	2015
Abstract	EnglishIn 2010, during the excavation of a protohistoric site (dir.: E. Millet, INRAP), a small Mesolithic occupation was identified on the Haut-de-Valliere site, Rosnay (Marne). The brief rescue operation allowed the identification of a 20 m² concentration and the collection of all artefacts by quarter square metre units. Against all odds, homogeneity and consistency of the site are attested by chronological and functional data despite its location at the top of a gentle slope of a small valley and its sealing by sandy slope deposits (tertiary residual hill). The Mesolithic level is well preserved and there is no mixing with other periods. The absence of a dip and the flat distribution of the remains allow us to envisage an installation on a ledge or in a hollow. The remains, set around a hearth structure, are characterized by the presence of flints, stone (sandstone), some burnt bone remains and rare fragments of burnt hazelnut shells. The hearth is a carbonaceous and sub-circular area (1.80 m²), with some dispersed sandstones. Two very consistent dates, one on burnt bone and one on burnt hazelnut shells, place the occupation at the end of the Pre-Boreal between 8628 and 8340 cal. BC. This chronological attribution appears in line with the microlith assemblage, dominated by crescents and retouched base points, assigned to the ‘north-western Beuronian’ technocomplex (Ducrocq, 2001 and 2009). 1,463 lithic remains were discovered. 45.9% are splinters. Domestic tools (82) are more numerous than microliths (27), with many scrapers (51). These scrapers have various morphologies; they are manufactured on flakes or blades, in tertiary or secondary flint. Those in secondary flint were more used and re-sharpened. Usewear analysis proves their use in skin scraping activities. Retouched flakes, blades and bladelets are also present as well as some rare burins. The chronocultural consistency is reinforced by the function of the site, specialized in skin-working (scraping and cutting), confirmed by the usewear analyses of many scrapers. In parallel, the usewear analyses have highlighted different treatments of skins, with scrapers used on dry skins or during the drying process and unretouched flakes or blades on moist skins, probably in association with the use of ochre. To a lesser extent, butchery and plant-related activities were also identified on the site with unretouched flakes and bladelets. 138 osseous remains were collected, mainly burnt. The archaeozoological analysis identified the presence of wild boar, mainly represented by charred lower leg parts that can also reflect butchery activities and skin-working. Flint knapping activities were mainly dedicated to the manufacture of arrowheads from regular bladelets. Some microburins were discovered. However, the use of various raw materials (tertiary and secondary flint) reveals the segmentation in space and time of the bladelet “chaine operatoire”. Some cores seem to have been imported already preformed while others were taken away after being knapped on the site. The spatial distribution of remains and functional results revealed the organization of the various activities identified around the hearth. Skin scraping and cutting, butchery and plant-related activities are located apart from microlith manufacturing (east of the hearth). Skin scraping was located at two separate places depending on the tools used: scrapers (north-west of the hearth) or unretouched tools (east). Plant-related activities were more dispersed, in several places. Through usewear analysis, various activities have been identified on the Rosnay site, involving both retouched tools and unretouched flakes or bladelets. However, the functional spectrum is limited (plant scraping and splitting, butchery and skin scraping and cutting) and argues in favour of a relatively short and well-specialized domestic occupation. Among the tools, and not far from the hearth, we note the presence of a prismatic tool fragment of quartzite sandstone, characteristic of the early Mesolithic in the Paris Basin. The raw material is a glossy sandstone, deposits of which are known in the Aisne departement near Soissons (Vauville, 1891) and in the Tardenois region (Rozoy, 1978), as well as in Ile-de-France (Griselin, 2010; Griselin et al., 2013). This is one of the most eastern discoveries of this kind of tool after an example found in the Vosges (Pressager et al., 1997). In view of the poorly documented regional context, the discovery of the Rosnay Mesolithic occupation is particularly interesting. This is indeed one of the rare dated Mesolithic sites in Champagne-Ardenne. The good conservation of the site and its location on the slope of a sandy hill are uncommon. Indeed, well-preserved and dated Mesolithic sites on hillsides or plateaux are generally rare in northern France; over the last decade most finds have been located in valleys (Ducrocq, 2001; Fagnart et al., 2008; Lang and Sicard, 2008; Seara et al., 2002; Souffi, 2013). Furthermore, the Mesolithic occupation of Rosnay, by its functional specialization and spatial organization, is perfectly integrated in current problematics aimed at palethnographic reconstitutions. francaisEn 2010, lors d’une fouille protohistorique (responsable : E. Millet, INRAP), une petite occupation meso-lithique a ete reconnue puis fouillee sur le site du « Haut-de-Valliere » a Rosnay (Marne). L’intervention de sauvetage, relativement courte, a permis de cerner une concentration de 20 m² et de prelever l’ensemble du mobilier par quarts de metres carres. Contre toute attente, ce gisement implante sur le haut d’un versant en pente douce d’une petite vallee d'un affluent de la Vesle, s’est avere homogene tant sur le plan chronologique que fonctionnel. Le recouvrement du niveau s’est effectue par des depots de pente de sables fins qui composent le versant (butte tertiaire). L’absence de pendage et la repartition plane des vestiges, permettent d’envisager une implantation privilegiee sur un replat ou dans une cuvette. Les vestiges, des silex tailles, pierres (gres), quelques restes osseux brules et de rares fragments de coquilles de noisette brulees, se repartissent ici autour d’un foyer. Un fragment osseux calcine et une coquille de noisette brulee ont permis la realisation de deux datations tres coherentes qui placent l’occupation a la fin du Preboreal, entre 8628 et 8340 avant J.-C. Cette attribution chronologique apparait en adequation avec l’assemblage microlithique, domine par les segments associes aux pointes a base retouchee, et attribue au technocomplexe Beuronien nord-occidental (Ducrocq, 2001 et 2009). Cette coherence chronoculturelle est confortee par la fonction du site specialise dans le travail des peaux (raclage et decoupe). En effet, de nombreux grattoirs, utilises et ravives sur place caracterisent l’outillage domestique. Parallelement l’analyse traceologique a mis en evidence une utilisation des grattoirs pour le raclage de peaux seches ou en cours de sechage, tandis que le raclage de peaux humides, probablement traitees a l’ocre, semble avoir fait appel a des produits plus ou moins allonges, dont le tranchant a ete utilise brut. Dans une moindre mesure, des activites de boucherie et du travail des plantes ont egalement ete realisees sur le site, notamment a l’aide de tranchants bruts (eclats, lames ou lamelles). L’analyse archeozoologique a permis d’identifier la presence du sanglier, essentiellement represente par des elements de bas de pattes calcines, pouvant aussi temoigner d’activites boucheres et du travail des peaux. Les activites de taille du silex dediees essentiellement a la fabrication d’armatures de fleches a partir de lamelles, apparaissent ici secondaires. La repartition spatiale des vestiges et des resultats fonctionnels, revele une certaine organisation des differentes activites, en particulier le travail des peaux, autour du foyer. L’analyse traceologique realisee ici a revele la presence d’activites variees, aussi bien a l’aide d’outils retouches que de tranchants bruts (eclats ou lamelles non retouches). Toutefois, le spectre fonctionnel reste limite et plaide en faveur d’une occupation domestique specialisee de courte duree. Parmi l’outillage, on note la presence particuliere, en position de rejet, d’un fragment d’outil prismatique en gres quartzite, objet caracteristique du premier Mesolithique du Bassin parisien. Il s’agit ici d’une des extensions les plus orientales de ce type d’objet apres un exemplaire decouvert dans les Vosges (Pressager et al., 1997). Au regard des donnees regionales peu nombreuses, la decouverte du site de Rosnay prend tout son interet. Il s’agit en effet d’un des rares sites mesolithiques bien conserve et dates de la region Champagne-Ardenne. Par ailleurs, l’occupation mesolithique de Rosnay, par sa specialisation fonctionnelle et l’organisation des activites s’integre parfaitement aux problematiques actuelles visant une reconstitution palethnographique.
Starting Page	717
Ending Page	759
Page Count	43
File Format	PDF HTM / HTML
DOI	10.3406/bspf.2015.14598
Volume Number	112
Alternate Webpage(s)	http://www.prehistoire.org/offres/file_inline_src/515/515_pj_170418_151325.pdf
Alternate Webpage(s)	https://doi.org/10.3406/bspf.2015.14598
Language	English
Access Restriction	Open
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article