Early evidence of acheulean settlement in northwestern Europe - La noira site, a 700 000 year-old occupation in the center of France

PLoS ONE

Volumn 8, Issue 11, 2013, Pages

  Moncel, Marie Hélène ^a   Despriée, Jackie ^a   Voinchet, Pierre ^a   Tissoux, Hélène ^a,b   Moreno, Davinia ^a   Bahain, Jean Jacques ^a   Courcimault, Gilles ^a   Falguères, Christophe ^a  

^a MUSÉUM NATIONAL D'HISTOIRE NATURELLE   (France)

^b BRGM   (France)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ACHEULEAN; ARCHEOLOGY; ARTICLE; ELECTRON SPIN RESONANCE; EUROPE; FOSSIL; FRANCE; GERMANY; LOWER PLEISTOCENE; MIDDLE PLEISTOCENE; SEDIMENT; UNITED KINGDOM;

ARCHAEOLOGY; EUROPE; FOSSILS; FRANCE; HUMANS; PALEONTOLOGY;

EID: 84896710103     PISSN: None     EISSN: 19326203     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0075529     Document Type: Article

References (97)

1. Carbonell E, Garcia-Anton MD, Mallol C, Mosquera M, Ollé A, et al. (1999) The TD6 lithic industry from Gran Dolina, Atapuerca (Burgos, Spain) production and use. J Hum Evol 37: 653-693. (Pubitemid 30354831)
2. Arzarello M, Marcollini F, Pavia G, Pavia M, Petronio C, et al. (2006) Evidence of earliest human occurrence in Europe: the site of Pirro Nord (Southern Italy). Naturwissenschaften 94: 107-112. (Pubitemid 46127375)
3. Parfitt SA, Barendregt RW, Breda M, Candy I, Collins MJ, et al. (2005) The earliest record of human activity in northern Europe. Nature 438(15): 1008-1012. (Pubitemid 43093972)
4. Parfitt SA, Ashton N, Lewis SG, Abel RL, Coope GR, et al CB (2010) Early Pleistocene human occupation at the edge of the boreal zone in northwest Europe. Nature 466: 229-233.
5. Carrión JS, Rose J, Stringer C (2011) Early Human Evolution in the Western Palaearctic: Ecological Scenarios. Quat Sci Rev 30(11-12): 1281-1295.
6. Despriée J, Voinchet P, Tissoux H, Bahain JJ, Falguères C, et al. (2011) Lower and Middle Pleistocene human settlements recorded in fluvial deposits of the middle Loire River Basin, Centre Region, France. Quat Sci Rev 30(11-12): 1474-1485.
7. MacDonald K, Martinez-Torres M, Dennell RW, Bermudez de Castro JM (2012) Discontinuity in the record for hominin occupation in south-western Europe: Implications for occupation of the middle latitudes of Europe. Quat Int 271(0): 84-97
8. Clark G (1969) World Prehistory: A New Outline (Cambridge University Press, London).
9. Bar-Yosef O, Goren-Inbar N (1993) The Lithic Assemblages of Ubeidiya. A Lower Palaeolithic site in the Jordan Valley (Quedem, Jerusalem). 266 p.
10. Doronichev VB (2008) The Lower Palaeolithic in Eastern Europe and the Caucasus: A Reappraisal of the Data and New Approaches, PaleoAnthropology: 107-157.
11. Sharon G (2010) Large flake Acheulian. Quat Int 223-224: 226-233
12. Lepre CL, Roche H, Kent DV, Harmand S, Quinn RL, et al. (2011) An earlier origin for the Acheulian. Nature 477: 82-85.
13. Pappu S, Gunnell Y, Akhilesh K, Braucher R, Taieb M, et al. (2011) Early Pleistocene Presence of Acheulian Hominins in South India. Science 331: 1596-1599.
14. Beyene Y, Katoh S, WoldeGabriel G, Hart WK, Sudo M, et al. (2013) The characteristics and chronology of the earliest Acheulean at Konso, Ethiopia. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 110 (5): 1584-1591.
15. Goren-Inbar N, Feibel CS, Verosub KL, Melameb Y, Kislev ME, et al. (2000) Pleistocene Milestones on the Out-of-Africa Corridor at Gesher Benot Yakov, Israel. Science 289: 944-947. (Pubitemid 30662074)
16. Hou Y, Potts R, Baoyin Y, Zhentang G, Deino A, et al. (2000) Mid-Pleistocene Acheulean-like Stone Technology of the Bose Basin, South China. Science 287: 1622-1626. (Pubitemid 30127757)
17. Dennell RW (2009) Palaeolithic Settlement of Asia. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. 548 p.
18. Tuffreau A, Lamotte A, Goval E (2008) Les industries acheuléennes de la France septentrionale. L'Anthropologie, Paris 112: 104-139.
19. Jiménez-Arenas JM, Santonja M, Botella M, Palmqvist P (2011) The oldest handaxes in Europe: fact or -artefacts? J Archaeol Sci 38(12): 3340-3349.
20. Barsky D, de Lumley H (2010) Early European Mode 2 and the stone industry from the Caune de l'Arago's archeostratigraphical levels "P". Quat Int 223-224: 71-86.
21. Herisson D, Airvaux J, Lenoble A, Richter D, Claud E, et al. (2012) Le gisement acheuléen de La Grande vallée à Colombiers (Vienne, France): stratigraphie, processus de formation, datations préliminaires et industries lithiques. Paleo 23: 1-18.
22. Scott GR, Gibert L (2009) The oldest hand-axes in Europe. Nature 461: 82-85.
23. Carbonell E, Bermùdez de Castro JM, Arsuaga JL, Allue E, Bastiret M, et al. (2005) An Early Pleistocene hominin mandible from Atapuerca-TD6, Spain. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 102(16): 5674-5678. (Pubitemid 40559618)
24. Carbonell E, Bermudez de Castro J, Pares J, Perez-Gonzalez A, Cuenca-Bescos G, et al. (2008) The first hominin of Europe. Nature 452: 456-470.
25. Roberts M, Parfitt S (1999) Boxgrove: A Middle Pleistocene Hominid site at Eartham Quarry. English Heritage, West Sussex, England. 356 p.
26. Rightmire GP (2001) Patterns of hominid evolution and dispersal in the Middle Pleistocene. Quat Int 75: 77-84.
27. Manzi G (2004) Human Evolution at the Matuyama-Brunhes boundary. Evol Anthropol 13: 11-24.
28. Hublin JJ (2009) The origin of Neandertals. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 106(38): 16022-16027.
29. Mounier A, Marchal F, Condemi S (2009) Is Homo heidelbergensis a distinct species? New insight on the Mauer mandibule. J Hum Evol 56: 219-246.
30. Wagner GA, Krbetschek M, Degering D, Bahain JJ, Shao Q et al. (2010) Radiometric dating of the type-site for Homo heidelbergensis at Mauer, Germany. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 107(46): 19726-19730.
31. Stringer C (2012) The Status of Homo heidelbergensis (Schoetensack 1908). Evol Anthropol 21: 101-107.
32. Bischoff JL, Williams RW, Rosenbauer RJ, Aramburu A, Arsuaga JL, et al. (2007) High-resolution U-series dates from the Sima de los Huesos hominids yields 60066 kyrs: implications for the evolution of the early Neanderthal lineage. J Archaeol Sci 34: 763-770. (Pubitemid 46001014)
33. Martinòn-Torres M, Bermùdez de Castro JM, Gòmez-Robles A, Arsuaga JL, Carbonell E, et al. (2007) Dental evidence on the hominin-dispersal during the Pleistocene. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 104: 13279-13282.
34. Premo LS, Hublin JJ (2009) Culture, population structure, and low genetic diversity in Pleistocene hominins. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 106(1): 33-37.
35. Despriée J, Voinchet P, Bahain JJ, Tissoux H, Falguères C, et al. (2007) Les nappes alluviales pléistocènes de la vallée moyenne du Cher (Région Centre, France): contexte morphosédimentaire, chronologie ESR et préhistoire. Premiers résultats. Quaternaire 18(4): 349-368.
36. Despriée J, Voinchet P, Tissoux H, Moncel MH, Arzarello M, et al. (2010) Lower And Middle Pleistocene Human Settlements In The Middle Loire River Basin, Centre Region, France. Quat Int 223-224: 345-359.
37. Voinchet P, Despriée J, Tissoux H, Falguères C, Bahain JJ, et al. (2010) ESR chronology of alluvial deposits and first human settlements of the Middle Loire Basin (Region Centre, France). Quat Geochronol 5(2-3): 381-384.
38. Bordes F (1961) Typologie du Paléolithique -inférieur et moyen (Delmas, Bordeaux). 460 p.
39. Leakey MD (1971) Olduvai Gorge: Excavations in Bed I and Bed II, 1960-1963 (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge).
40. Boëda E, Geneste JM, Meignen L (1990) Identification de chaînes opératoires lithiques du Paléolithique ancien et moyen. Paleo 2: 43-80.
41. Torre de la I, Mora R, Martinez-Moreno J (2008) The early Acheulean in Peninj (Lake Natron, Tanzania). J Anthropol Arch 27: 244-264.
42. Gallotti R, Collina C, Raynal JP, Kieffer G, Geraads D, et al. (2010) The Early Middle Pleistocene Site of Gombore II (Melka Kunture, Upper Awash, Ethiopia) and the Issue of Acheulean Bifacial Shaping Strategies. Afr Archaeol Rev 27: 291-322.
43. Antoine P, Limondin-Lozouet N, Chaussé C, Lautridou JP, Pastre JF, et al. (2007) Pleistocene fluvial terraces from northern France (Seine, Yonne, Somme): synthesis and new results. Quat Sci Rev 26: 2701-2723. (Pubitemid 350199599)
44. Tyron CA, Mc Breaty S, Texier PJ (2005) Levallois lithic technology from the Kapthurin Formation, Kenya: Acheulian origin and middle Stone Age diversity. Afr Archaeol Rev 22(4): 199-229
45. Torre de la I (2011) The Early Stone Age lithic assemblages of Gadeb (Ethiopia) and the Developed Oldowan/early Acheulean in East Africa. J Hum Evol 60(6): 768-812.
46. Coltorti M, Feraud G, Marzoli A, Peretto C, Ton-Thate T, et al. (2005) New 40Ar/39Ar, stratigraphic ans paleoclimatic data on the Isernia La Pineta Lower Palaeolithic site, Molise, Italy. Quat Int 131: 11-22.
47. Martinez K, Garcia J, Carbonell E, Agusti J, Bahain JJ, et al. (2010) A new Lower Pleistocene archaeological site in Europe (Vallparadis, Barcelona, Spain). Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 107(13): 5762-5767.
48. Piperno M, editor(1999) Notarchirico. Un sito del Pleistocene medio iniziale nel bacino di Venosa (Edizioni Osanna, Venosa, Italy). 621 p.
49. Clark JD (1967) The Middle Acheulian occupation of Latamne, Northern Syria. Quaternaria 9: 1-68.
50. Villa P (1981) Matières premières et provinces culturelles dans l'Acheuléen français. Quaternaria: 19-35
51. Ashton NM, White M (2003) Bifaces and raw materials: flexible flaking in the British Early Palaeolithic. In: Soressi M, Dibble H, editors. Multiple Approaches to the Study of Bifacial Technology. University Museum Monography, 115, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. pp. 109-124.
52. Mourre V (2003) Implication culturelles de la technologie des hachereaux (Phd, Nanterre, Paris, Université de Paris X).
53. Sharon G (2008) The impact of raw material on Acheulian large flake production. J Archaeol Sci 35(5): 1329-1344.
54. Sharon G (2009) Acheulian Giant-Core Technology, Curr Anthropol 50(3): 335-367.
55. Sharon G, Alperson-Afil N, Goren-Inbar N (2011) Cultural conservatism and variability in the Acheulian sequence of Gesher Benot Yaaqov. J Hum Evol 60(4): 387-397.
56. Isaac G, Harris JWK, Kroll EM (1997) The Stone Artefact Assemblages/A comparative -study. In: Isaac G, editor. Koobi Fora Research Project. Oxford University Press. pp 262-362.
57. Leakey LSB (1951) Olduvai Gorge. A report on the evolution of the hand-axe culture in Beds I-IV (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge).
58. Breuil Abbé H, Kelley H (1954) Le Paléolithique ancien. Abbevillien. Clactonien. Acheuléen. Levalloisien. Bulletin de la Société Préhistorique Française LI(8): 1-18.
59. Kleindienst MR (1961) Variability within the late Acheulian assemblage in Eastern Africa. South African Archaeological Bulletin 16: 35-52.
60. Semaw S, Rogers M, Stout D (2009) The Oldowan-Acheulian Transition: Is there a "Developed Oldowan" Artifact Tradition? In: Camps M, Chauhan P, editors. Sourcebook of Paleolithic Transitions Springer. pp 173-194.
61. McPherron SP (2000) Handaxes as a mesure of the mental capabilities of early hominids. J Archaeol Sci 27(8): 655-663.
62. McPherron S (2006) What typology can tell us about Acheulian handaxe production. In: Goren - Inbar N, Sharon G, editors. Axe Age Acheulian Toolmaking from Quarry to Discard. Equinox Publishing Ltd, London. pp 267-287
63. Winton V (2005) An Investigation of Knapping-skill Development in the Manufacture of Palaeolithic Handaxes. The necessary conditions for a uniquely hominin behavior. In: Roux V, Brill B, editors. Stone knapping. MacDonald Institute Monograph. pp 109-119.
64. Clark JD, Haynes CV (1969) An elephant butchery site at Mwanganda's village, Karonga, Malawi, and its relevance for Palaeolithic archaeology. World Archaeol 1: 390-411.
65. Turq A, Despriee J, Airvaux J, Texier JP, Maureille B (2012) A la conquête de l'ouest: il y a 1 million d'années en Europe (Ed. Maison de l'Histoire de France - Musée national de Préhistoire, Les Eyzies). 160 p.
66. Guadelli JL, Turq A, Seronie-Vivien R (2012) Le site de Pradayrol à Caniac-du-Causse (Lot). In: Turq A, Airvaux J, Despriée J, Texier PJ, editors. La conquête de l'Ouest Il y a un million d'années en Europe. Musée des Eyzies. Maison de l'Histoire de France. pp 136-137.
67. Roche H, Brugal JP, Lefevre D, Ploux S, Texier PJ (1988) Isenya: état des recherches sur un nouveau site acheuléen d'Afrique orientale. Afr Archaeol Rev 6: 27-55.
68. Roche H, Brugal JP, Delagnes A, Feibel C, Harmand S, et al. (2003) Les sites archéologiques plio-pléistocènes de la formation de Nachukui, Ouest-Turkana, Kenya: bilan synthétique 1997-2001. C R Palevol 2: 663-673. (Pubitemid 38171732)
69. Texier PJ, Roche H (1995) The impact of predetermination on the development of some acheulean chaînes opératoires. In: Bermudez de Castro J, Arsuaga JL, Carbonell E, editors. Evolucion humana en Europa y los yacimientos de la Sierra de Atapuerc. Junta de Castilla y Leon, Vallaloid. pp 403-420.
70. Santonja M, Villa P (2006) The Acheulian of Western Europe. In: Goren - Inbar N, Sharon G, editors. Axe Age Acheulian Tool-making from Quarry to Discard. Equinox Publishing Ltd. London. pp 429-479.
71. Sharon G (2011) Flakes Crossing the Straits? Entame Flakes and Northern Africa-Iberia Contact During the Acheulean. Afr Archaeol Rev 28: 125-140.
72. Wilkins J, Chazan M (2012) Blade production at 500 thousand years ago at Kathu Pan 1, South Africa: support for a multiple origins hypothesis for early Middle Pleistocene blade technologies. J Archaeol Sci 39(6): 1883-1900.
73. Raynal JP, Sbihi Alaoui FZ, Geraads D, Magoga L, Mohi A (2001) The earliest occupation of North Africa: the Maroccan perspective. Quat Int 75: 65-77.
74. Raynal JP, Sbihi-Alaoui FZ, Michib A, El Graoui M, Lefèvre D, et al. (2011) Contextes et âge des nouveaux restes dentaires humains du Pleistocène moyen de la carrière Thomas I à Casablanca (Maroc). Bulletin de la Société Préhistorique Française 108(4): 645-671
75. Texier PJ (2001) Du seuil de l'hominisation aux premières cultures: potentialité et apports de la taille expérimentale. Praehistoria 2: 51-61
76. Schick K, Clark JD (2003) Biface technological development and variability in the Acheulean industrial complex in the Middle Awash Region of the Afar Rift, Ethiopia. In: Soressi M, Dibble HL, editors. Multiples Approaches to the Study of Bifacial technologies. Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Philadelphia. University of -Pennsylvania. pp 1-30
77. Petraglia M (2003) The Lower Paleolithic of the Arabian Peninsula: occupations, adaptations, and dispersals. Journal of World Prehistory 17(2).
78. Yazbeck C (2004) Le Paléolithique du Liban: bilan critique. Paléorient 30(2): 111-126
79. Goren-Inbar N, Sharon G (2006) Axe Age: Acheulian Tool-making from Quarry to Discard (Equinox Publishing Ltd, London).
80. Jagher R, Le Tensorer JM (2011) El Kowm, a key area for the Palaeolithic of the Levant in Central Syria. In: Le Tensorer JM, Jagher R, Otte M, editors. The Lower and Middle Palaeolithic in the Middle East and Neighbouring. ERAUL, Université de Liège, University of Basel. pp. 197-209.
81. Lycett SJ, Gowlett JAJ (2008) On questions surrounding the Acheulean "tradition". World Archaeol 40(3): 295-315.
82. Lycett SJ, von Cramon-Taubadel N (2008) Acheulean variability and hominin dispersals: a model-bound approach. J Archaeol Sci 35: 553-562.
83. Guthrie RD (1984) Mosaics, allelochemics and nutrients: an ecological theory of Late Pleistocene megafaunal extinctions. In: Martin PS, Klein RG, editors. Quaternary extinctions: a prehistoric revolution. University of Arizona Press. pp. 259-298.
84. Almogi-Labin A (2011) The paleoclimate of the Eastern Mediterranean during the transition from early to mid Pleistocene (900 to 700 ka) based on marine and non-marine records: An integrated overview. J Hum Evol 60(4): 428-436.
85. Ashton N, Lewis SG (2012) The environmental contexts of early human occupation of northwest Europe: The British Lower Palaeolithic record. Quat Int 271: 50-64.
86. Messager E, Lebreton V, Marquer L, Russo-Ermolli E, Orain R, et al. (2011) Palaeoenvironments of early hominins in temperate and Mediterranean Eurasia: new palaeobotanical data from Palaeolithic key-sites and synchronous natural sequences. Quat Sci Rev 30(11-12): 1439-1447.
87. Abbate E, Sagri M (2012) Early to Middle Pleistocene Homo dispersals from Africa to Eurasia: Geological, climatic and environmental constraints. Quat Int 267(0): 3-19.
88. Belmaker M (2009) Hominin adaptability and patterns of faunal turnover in the Lower-Middle Pleistocene transition in the Levant. In: Camps M, Chauhan PR, editors. A sourcebook of Paleolithic transitions: methods, theories and Interpretations. Springer. pp. 211-227.
89. Berger GW, Perez-Gonzalez A, Carbonell E, Arsuaga JL, Bermudez de Castro JM, et al. (2008) Luminescence chronology of cave sediments at the Atapuerca paleoanthropological site, Spain. J Hum Evol 55: 300-311.
90. Bonifay MF, Brugal JP (1996) Biogéographie et biostratigraphie des grandes faunes du Pléistocène inférieur et moyen en Europe du sud: Apport des gisements français. Paléo 8: 19-29.
91. Cuenca Bencos G, Rofes J, Lopez-Garcia JM, Blain HA, De Marta RJ, et al. (2010) Biochronology of Spanish Quaternary small vertebrate faunas. Quat Int 212: 109-119.
92. Duval M, Grün R, Falguères C, Bahain JJ, Dolo JM (2009) ESR dating of Lower Pleistocene fossil teeth: Limits of the single saturating exponential (SSE) function for the equivalent dose determination. Radiat Meas 44(5-6): 477-48.
93. Duval M, Moreno D, Shao Q, Falgueres C, Bahain JJ, et al. (2011) Datación por ESR del yacimiento arqueológico del Pleistoceno inferior de Vallparad?́s (Terrassa, Cataluña, España) = ESR dating of the Early Pleistocene archaeological site at Vallparad?́s (Terrassa, Cataluña, Spain). Trabajo de Prehistoria 68(1): 7-24.
94. Falgueres C, Bahain JJ, Yokoyama Y, Arsuaga JL, Bermudez de Castro JM, et al. (1999) Earliest humans in Europe : the age of TD6 Gran Dolina, Atapuerca, Spain. J Hum Evol 37: 343-352. (Pubitemid 30354825)
95. Lefèvre D, Raynal JP, Vernet G, Kieffer G, Piperno M (2010) Tephrostratigraphy and the age of ancient Southern Italian Acheulean settlements: The sites of Loreto and Notarchirico (Venosa, Basilicata, Italy). Quat Int 223-224: 360-368
96. Pope M, Roberts M, Maxted A, Jones P (2009) The Valdoe: Archaeology of a Locality within the Boxgrove. Palaeolandscape, West Sussex. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 75: 239-263.
97. Raynal JP, Paquereau MM, Daugas JP, Miallier D, Fain J, et al. (1985) Contribution à la datation du volcanisme quaternaire du massif central français par thermoluminescence de inclusions de quartz et comparaisons avec d'autres approches : implications chronostratigraphiques et paléoenvironnementales. Quaternaire 22(4): 183-207.