Duanjiagouzhuanchang est un site Préhistorique de plein air, situé sur la quatrième terrasse de la Rivière Han (T4), Province du Hubei, R.P. de Chine. Ce site a livré une riche industrie lithique (165 pièces). Cet assemblage lithique est formé principalement par un abondant outillage sur galet, dont des choppers, de rares pics et des bifaces. Les autres outils sur éclat, de petites dimensions, sont rares et peu retouchés. D’après les différentes analyses typo-technologiques réalisées sur l’industrie de Duanjiagouzhuanchang, elle appartient au Paléolithique inférieur.

The Vallonnet in southern France is the only known prehistoric habitation site in cave from the Lower Pleistocene in Europe. In this regard, it holds particular interest in that it contains a well-preserved archaeological sequence between two stalagmitic floors. The Epi-Villafranchian fauna, which was exhumed in association with tools in a well-established context, attests to the antiquity of the site. Several dating methods have been applied to different types of proxies, suggesting an age older than one million years, which places the site among the oldest sites in Europe.

Le Vallonnet à Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, dans le sud-est de la France, est le seul habitat préhistorique en grotte connu pour le Pléistocène inférieur en Europe. Il renferme un remplissage archéologique bien conservé entre deux planchers stalagmitiques. La faune épi-villafranchienne qui a été exhumée, en association avec des outils lithiques en contexte stratigraphique bien établi, atteste de l’ancienneté du site. Plusieurs méthodes de datation, appliquées à différents types de supports, ont donné des résultats qui suggèrent un âge de l’ordre ou plus ancien qu’un million d’années, ce qui place le site parmi les plus anciens en Europe.

The first “Out of Africa” migrations represent a seminal event in the history of humankind. At the gates of Europe, the first appearance of Hominins is recorded in Georgia, 1.8 million years ago (Ma); however, the picture of migration across the continent remains incomplete. Vallonnet Cave (France) is a Lower Paleolithic prehistoric site with traces of hominin activities including lithic remains and cut-marks on mammal bones. Here, we apply the uranium-lead (U-Pb) methods to two flowstones to date the intervening archaeological levels. The U-Pb data, coupled with paleomagnetic constraints, provide an age range from 1.2 to 1.1 Ma. The results conclusively demonstrate that Vallonnet Cave is one of the oldest European prehistoric sites in France with early hominin occupations associated with an Epivillafranchian fauna. Combined with data from other archaeological sites, the new precise chronology suggests a widespread occupation the Northern Mediterranean to Southwestern Europe at ~1.2 Ma.

Konso area provided several localities 1.9 to 1.4 My aged. These sites provide important data on African lower Pleistocene: the oldest Acheulean assemblage in the world and the coexistence of Australopithecus boisei and Homo erectus, as fossils of both have been found in the same site. On the other hand, the zooarchaeological analysis showed that Konso hominids used to process animal resources with a sharp knowledge of butchery techniques. The great new data actually is the presence of bones that seem to have been shaped in order to be used as tools. (C) 2012 Published by Elsevier Masson SAS.

Men and Carnivores used to live very closely during the Lower Pleistocene as show the assemblages. This allows LIS to reconstruct their behaviors and to bring up the idea that they used to share an ecological 4 niche. It is also possible to understand the evolution of their behaviors, as regards the food Supply, and the way they used to live in the sites. The first Europeans had a great capacity for adaptation, as well as a certain vulnerability, just like the Carnivores. The acquisitions of specialized technics are likely to have reduced this capacity for adaptation, as they got free from their opportunistic predator position. (C) 2009 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Dans la zone liguro-provencale, englobant les Alpes-Maritimes, Monaco et la Ligurie italienne, plusieurs gisements acheuleens et mousteriens sont presents, en grotte ou en plein-air, temoignant des presences humaines prehistoriques dans ces territoires au cours des Pleistocene moyen et superieur, entre les stades isotopiques 11 et 3. Les etudes pluridisciplinaires de ces sites livrent des donnees concernant a la fois les paleo-environnements, les datations, les comportements techniques et les modes de vies des groupes humains du Paleolithique inferieur et moyen de ces regions.

Les ossements humain Neandertaliens du Boquete de Zafarraya sont au nombre de 16 et representent un minimum de 9 individus. Ces os sont relativement bien conserves. Ils ont ete l'objet de diverses modifications avant leur enfouissement : fracturation, combustion, stries de boucherie, marques de dents de carnivores ont ete identifiees. Les phenomenes post-depositionnels sont egalement etudies. Chaque os est examine et dans certains cas une chronologie des evenements subis l'os peut etre reconstituee avec precision. La succession des interventions anthropiques, carnivores puis strictement taphonomique permet d'evoquer les comportements des Neandertaliens dans la grotte du Boquete de Zafarraya vis-a-vis de leurs semblables.

The large canid of Vallonnet cave belongs to Xenocyon lycaonoides. Its remains are similar to the Xenocyon from Untermassfeld in Germany. X Lycaonoides, and evoluated form of the Xenocyon genus, is characteristic of the second half of the Lower Pleistocene. The genus Xenocyon may be the ancestor of both Cuon and Lycaon. (c) 2006 Elsevier Masson SAS. Tons droits reserves.