The bison valley: Ormesson (Seine-et-Marne, France), a key open-air site for the study of Palaeolithic groups from the Middle Palaeolithic to the Badegoulian.

Description

In the Paris Basin, open-air Palaeolithic sites generally belong to the finalMagdalenian with examples such as Pincevent, Etiolles and Verberie. It is onthese sites that the palethnographic approach of A. Leroi-Gourhan and hisdisciples was elaborated. However, for a long time, periods prior to the end ofthe Upper Palaeolithic did not focus a lot of attention, certainly because of theabsence of well-preserved sites, but also because of a relative lack of intereston behalf of researchers who were working on this vast area. Thanks to a collectiveresearch project developed in the early 2000's at the French NationalCenter for Scientific research (CNRS), entitled "The Early Upper Palaeolithic ofthe centre and the south of the Paris Basin", new data were collected leading tothe development of an excavation program on the site of Ormesson (Seine-et-Marne) that began in 2009. After seven years of functioning, this program,initially focused on a Gravettian occupation dated 26500 uncal. BP and linkedto bison hunting, has permitted the identification of four others occupationsranging from the end of the Middle Palaeolithic to the Badegoulian, and alsoincluding the Châtelperronian and the Middle Solutrean periods. The excellentstate of preservation of these occupations leads us, besides the study of theenvironmental context (topography, plant environment, fauna, availability ofraw materials, etc.), to a better understanding of subsistence economies andsettlements functioning developed during 30000 years of human presence atthis site.

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