This article describes a sculpted head with a highly detailed face and headpiece, unearthed in 2021 at the Amiens-Renancourt 1 site. Since 2013, excavations at this Gravettian site have yielded one of the largest collections of female statuettes in Europe. Up until recently, most of the Gravettian female figurines in Western Europe had been found at ancient excavations using expeditious excavation methods, whereas the well-preserved statuettes from Amiens-Renancourt 1 come from a well-studied stratigraphic context using modern excavation methodology.All of the statuettes display typical Gravettian characteristics. The female attributes are often very pronounced, while the extremities are not very detailed. The head presented in this article stands out somewhat from the rest of the corpus. The face is structured around the nose and eyes, with two prominent cheeks. The neck ends in a transverse fracture. If we follow the anatomical line of the nape of the neck, the carriage of the head is very distinctive, with an upward gaze. In addition to the exceptional presence of a face, this head is adorned with a headpiece extending from the forehead to the nape of the neck with decoration divided into three distinct types incised on the top and back of the head.After a description of this sculpted head, the discussion contextualises this sculpture in the round in the European Gravettian statuary.

During the Last glacial,i.e. Weichselian, the Middle Pleniglacial (MPG) of northern France is characterized by a slowdown in loess sedimentation, which allowed for the development of the "Saint-Acheul / Villiers-Adam soil complex" during milder inters-tadial phases. In contrast, the onset of the Upper Pleniglacial (UPG) is marked by a sharp intensification of loess deposition and the disappearance of arctic/boreal brown soil pedogenic horizons, reflecting increasingly harsh climatic conditions. The pedogenic and periglacial marker horizons of the MPG and UPG are well documented at several key sites in northern France, enabling regional stratigraphic correlations that can be extended to Belgium and Germany. However, the boundary between the MPG and UPG remains difficult to define due to the diversity of criteria employed-either stratigraphic or chrono-climatic-as well as the frequent occurrence of a sedimentary hiatus, particularly around 34 ka. Based on high-resolution records from Havrincourt and Nussloch, this boundary is often placed at the top of the last arctic brown soil (Lohner Boden), attributed to the PGM and dated to approximately 34i.e.ka, contemporaneous from Greenland interstadial (GI) 7 or 6. The study of the Haynecourt sequence (Pas-de-Calais) provides new insight thanks to a continuous and well-dated pedo-se-dimentary record. Radiocarbon dates obtained from calcitic granules indicate a transitional phase lasting around 6,000 years (similar to 36.5-30.5 ka), reflecting a progressive climatic deterioration. These results support a subdivision of the MPG into two chro-no-climatic subphases: Subphase A (similar to 55-36.5 ka / GI-17 to GI-8), marked by boreal to arctic brown soils, and Subphase B (similar to 36.5-30.5 ka / GI-7 to GI-5.1), characterized by an increasingly severe, tundra-like environment. Within this framework, we propose to the MPG UPG around 30.5 ka.

The Hermies-Ruyaulcourt site (Pas-de-Calais), investigated within the “Canal Seine-Nord Europe” project, provides an exceptional record of pedosedimentary dynamics throughout the last interglacial-glacial cycle (Eemian–Weichselian). Eight stratigraphic trenches, correlated along 350 m, reveal several pedosedimentary units strongly influenced by local topography. This study combines sedimentological and micromorphological analyses with optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating. For OSL ages, a correction of the water content calculation protocol was developed, accounting for long-term moisture variations during burial. Nine OSL ages from humic horizons of the Early Glacial (MIS 5d-5a) and colluvial deposits of the Lower Pleniglacial (MIS 4) represent the first robust chronological dataset for these periods in northern France. Their internal consistency and agreement with existing thermoluminescence ages on burnt flints support their reliability. Moreover, geomorphological analysis highlights intense erosional phases which are interpreted as rapid permafrost destabilisation events linked to the melting of large ice-wedge networks around 60–55 ka and 30 ka (thermokarst erosion gullies). These investigations thus enable the chronology of the loess–palaeosols and the link with associated climatic events to be refined. This leads to a spatio-temporal model describing the evolution of Last Glacial environments in Western Europe, providing a robust reference for studying the Neanderthal occupation of the area.

Dans les séquences lœssiques du Dernier glaciaire (Weichselien) du nord de la France, le Pléniglaciaire moyen (PGM) se caractérise par un ralentissement de la sédimentation lœssique, favorisant le développement du « complexe de sols de Saint-Acheul / Villiers-Adam» durant les phases interstadiaires plus tempérées. À l’inverse, le Pléniglaciaire supérieur se distingue par une intensification marquée de la sédimentation lœssique et la disparition des horizons pédologiques de type sol brun boréal/arctique, traduisant des conditions climatiques nettement plus rigoureuses. Les horizons-repères pédologiques et périglaciaires du PGM et du PGS sont bien documentés sur plusieurs sites de référence du nord de la France, autorisant des corrélations stratigraphiques régio-nales et leur extension de proche en proche à la Belgique et à l’Allemagne.La limite entre le PGM et le PGS reste néanmoins difficile à caractériser, en raison des critères stratigraphiques ou chrono-cli-matiques et de la présence fréquente d’un hiatus dans les séquences, notamment autour de 34 ka. Sur la base des enregistrements à haute résolution d’Havrincourt et de Nussloch, cette limite est souvent placée au sommet du dernier sol brun arctique (Lohner Boden), attribué au PGM et daté d’environ 34 ka, i.e. contemporain des interstades groenlandais (GI) 7 ou 6.L’étude de la séquence d’Haynecourt (Pas-de-Calais) apporte un éclairage nouveau, grâce à un enregistrement pédo-sédimentaire relativement continu et surtout bien daté (17 dates radiocarbone). Les âges radiocarbone obtenus sur les granules calcitiques de vers de terre permettent de décrire une phase de transition longue d’environ 6 000 ans (~ 36,5-30,5 ka), correspondant à une dégradation progressive des conditions climatiques. Ces résultats permettent de proposer une subdivision du PGM en deux sous-phases : la sous-phase A (~ 55-36,5 ka / GI-17 à GI-8), marquée par des sols bruns boréaux à arctiques, et la sous-phase B (~ 36,5-30,5 ka / GI-7 à GI-5.1), caractérisée par un environnement de type toundra. Dans ce schéma il est proposé de placer la limite PGM / PGS vers 30,5 ka.

The Waziers Formation consists of a silty alluvial deposit topped by calcareous tuff and peat. It is preserved in a small palaeo-channel of the Scarpe-Scarbus river, recognised over several hundred metres long at the edge/entrance of the Scarpe river plain and dated to the end of the Saalian (SIM 6) and the Eemian (SIM 5e). The Waziers Formation was preserved by a later defluviation and the sealing by fluvio-aeolian deposits of the late Weichselian Pleniglacial (SIM 2). The synthesis of all the data and studies (lithology, palaeontology, geochronology, reconstruction of palaeotemperatures) provides a coherent picture of the evolution of the area since the end of the Saalian around 130,000 years ago to the end of the Weichselian Pleniglacial. At the base, sandy-gravelly (indicating dynamic flows) and then silty alluvium (Member 1) was deposited in the valley bottom at the end of the Saalian glacial period in a context of incipient forest reconquest. A water body then develops, allowing the sedimentation of a lacustrine chalk deposited in a Characeae marsh, followed by a peat bog (Member 2, ca. 1.5 m thick) in a forest context. A channelled stream still flows through the bog, at least intermittently, locally eroding and depositing silty alluvium. The lower part of Member 2 records the transition from the Saalian glacial (end of MIS 6) to the Eemian interglacial (beginning of MIS 5) in a context of continuous sedimentation with increasing organic content. The upper part of Member 2 records the Eemian climatic optimum in a typical peat facies, followed by the onset of climatic degradation. At the top of Member 2 (and that of the Formation) is the limit of a major erosion that did not allow the recording of the end of the Eemian interglacial. At the base of Member 3 (ca. 3 m thick) flows concentrated in deep gullies on frozen ground dismantle and rework the underlying deposits. Subsequently, flows (attributed to the Weichselian Pleniglacial) deposit a sheet of chalk gravels over the whole site in a wider active band (likely braiding). Most of Member 3 consists of fluvio-aeolian silty-sandy deposits and a thin terminal loessic deposit. The quality of the sedimentary record, with in particular continuous depo-sition at the time of the climatic transition from the Saalien to the Eemian, and the abundance of palaeontological elements (wood and plant macro-remains, macro-and meso-fauna, microfauna, avifauna, malacofauna...) in the Eemian deposits ensure the Waziers Formation is an exceptional testimony for the palaeoenvironmental and palaeoclimatic reconstructions. The presence of levels testying to recurrent human occupations in Members 1 and 2 (with isolated flakes, heaps of debitage, traces of anthropic actions on fauna) make this site and sequence a reference for the understanding of the human settlement dynamics from the MIS 6 (Saalian) to the MIS 5e (Eemian) in Northern France but also broadly in North-Western Europe.

La Formation de Waziers est constituée d'un dépôt alluvial limoneux surmonté de tuf calcaire et de tourbe. Elle est conservée dans un petit paléo-chenal de la rivière Scarpe-Scarbus, reconnu sur plusieurs centaines de mètres de long à l'entrée de la plaine de la Scarpe et daté de la fin du Saalien (SIM 6) et de l'Eemien (SIM 5e). La Formation de Waziers a été préservée à la faveur d'une défluviation ultérieure à son dépôt puis de son scellement par des dépôts fluvio-éoliens de la fin du Pléniglaciaire weichselien (SIM 2). La synthèse de l'ensemble des données et études (lithologie, paléontologie, géochronologie, reconstitution des paléotem- pératures) fournit une image cohérente de l'évolution de la zone depuis la fin du Saalien vers 130 000 ans environ jusqu'à la fin du Pléniglaciaire weichselien. À la base, les alluvions sablo-graveleuses (témoignant d'écoulements dynamiques) puis limoneuses (Membre 1) se déposent dans le fond de vallée à la fin du glaciaire saalien dans un contexte d'amorce de reconquête forestière. Un plan d'eau se développe ensuite, permettant le dépôt d'une craie lacustre dans un marais à Characées puis d'une tourbière (Membre 2, env. 1,5 m d'épaisseur) dans un contexte forestier. Un cours d'eau chenalisé circule encore dans la tourbière, au moins par intermittence, érodant et déposant localement des alluvions limoneuses. La partie inférieure du Membre 2 enregistre la transition du glaciaire Saalien (fin SIM 6) à l'Interglaciaire eemien (début SIM 5e) dans un contexte de sédimentation continue de plus en plus organique. La partie supérieure du Membre 2 enregistre l'optimum climatique eemien dans un faciès de tourbe typique, puis l'amorce d'une dégradation climatique. Au toit du Membre 2 (et celui de la Formation) est observée la limite d'une érosion majeure qui n'a pas permis l'enregistrement de la fin de l'Interglaciaire eemien. À la base du Membre 3 (env. 3 m d'épaisseur), des écoule- ments concentrés dans des ravines profondes sur sol gelé démantèlent et remanient les dépôts sous-jacents. Ensuite, des écoulements (attribués au Pléniglaciaire weichselien) déposent une nappe de graviers de craie sur l'ensemble du site dans une bande active plus large (probable tressage). La majeure partie du Membre 3 est constituée de dépôts limono-sableux fluvio-éoliens et d'un mince dépôt loessique terminal. La qualité de l'enregistrement sédimentaire de la formation de Waziers, avec notamment un dépôt continu au moment de la transition climatique du Saalien à l'Eemien, et l'abondance des éléments paléontologiques (bois et macrorestes végétaux, macro et méso-faune, microfaune, avifaune, malacofaune…) dans les dépôts eemiens font de celle-ci un témoin exceptionnel pour les recons- titutions paléoenvironnementales et paléoclimatiques de cette période. La présence de niveaux témoignant d'occupations humaines récurrentes dans les Membres 1 et 2 (éclats isolés, amas de débitage, traces d'actions anthropiques sur faune) font de ce site et de cette séquence une référence pour la compréhension des dynamiques de peuplement humain entre le SIM 6 (Saalien) et le SIM 5e (Eemien) dans le Nord de la France et plus largement dans le Nord-Ouest de l'Europe.

Les jeux de données présentés ci-après sont issus des recherches menées sur le gisement de Waziers le Bas-Terroir depuis 2013 (Hérisson et al., 2022, pour les détails des recherches et opérations de terrain). Le présent data paper vise donc à mettre à disposition de la communauté scientifique des données brutes ou complémentaires à celles présentées au sein des articles des tomes 1 et 2 consacrés au gisement eemien de Waziers le Bas-Terroir, à savoir les numéros 33-4 (2022) et 34-1 (2023) de la revue Quaternaire. Les données (hormis le set de données n°5) sont stockées au sein de l'entrepôt de données de recherche pour les Sciences Humaines et Sociales Nakala. Les données de Nakala sont stockées sur des serveurs gérés par Huma-Num, au centre de calcul de l'IN2P3 en France. Toutes les données du présent data paper sont regroupées au sein d'une collection intitulée « Waziers le Bas‑Terroir tome 1 & 2 Data paper revue Quaternaire » et accessible via le DOI 10.34847/nkl.de671e05 ou via le DOI indiqué pour chaque fichier dans le data paper. Le set de données n°5 a été déposé sur la plateforme PRIDE (PRoteomics IDEntifications Database). Les fichiers sont mis à disposition sous une licence Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial No Derivates 4.0 International (CC-BY- NC-ND-4.0).

The present dataset comes from rechearch led on the Waziers le Bas-Terroir site since 2013 (Herisson et al., 2022, for details about the research and fieldwork). The present data paper aims to share with the scientific community the raw or supplementary data to those presented in the papers of the volume 1 and 2 dedicated to Waziers le Bas-Terroir eemian site, corresponding to volumes 33-4 (2022) et 34-1 (2023) of Quaternaire. Data (except for data set #5) is stored in the Research Data Warehouse for Human and Social Sciences called Nakala. Nakala data is stored on servers managed by Huma-Num, at the IN2P3 data centre in France. All data in this data paper are grouped in a collection entitled << Waziers le Bas-Terroir tome 1 & 2 Data paper revue Quaternaire >> and accessible through the DOI 10.34847/nkl.de671e05 or through the DOI indicated for each file in the data paper. Data set #5 has been deposited on the PRIDE platform PRIDE (PRoteomics IDEntifications Database). The files are provided under a licence Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial No Derivates 4.0 International (CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0).

A sequence attributable to Eemian was revealed by a series of preventive diagnostics during the development in the city of Waziers of a Z.A.C. called 'Bas-Terroir' from 2011 to 2013. Following this discovery, a research program was set up to explore the sequence and the Eemian deposits of the area. The results of field research from 2013 to 2015 - and mainly those obtained following the scheduled excavations of 2014 and 2015 - are reported in this article. Four archaeological levels are documented for the first time in Waziers attesting to discrete but recurrent passages of Neanderthals from the late MIS 6 (c. 140 ka) to the Eemian optimum (MIS 5e, c. 130 ka). The uncovered toolkit is produced from two debitage concepts (Levallois and discoid). The faunal remains of vertebrates, mainly mammals, are in an exceptional state of conservation, as are the vegetal wood constituting a bioconstruction, identifiable as a beaver dam or hut. The evidences of the Neanderthals' butchering activities show that the disbudding, fracturing of the long bones and cremation were carried out on the game. While the aurochs is affected by most of the identified marks, the beaver also has cutting marks showing predatory activity of Waziers Neanderthals on these small animals. Waziers le Bas-Terroir deposit is therefore a major milestone in reconstructing the subsistence activities of the Neanderthal populations who inhabited northern France during the Eemian. More broadly and because of its uniqueness and the scarcity of organic remains that it delivers, Waziers le Bas-Terroir is a key site and with strong potential to address the question of the ability of the Neanderthals to adapt to the closed wooded environment that represents the Eemian forest in North-West Europe.

Une séquence attribuable à l'Eemien a été révélée par une série de diagnostics préventifs lors de l'aménagement sur la commune de Waziers d'une Z.A.C. dite du « Bas-Terroir » de 2011 à 2013. Suite à cette découverte, un programme de recherche programmé a été mis sur pied permettant d'explorer la séquence et les dépôts eemiens de la zone. Ce sont les résultats des années de 2013 à 2015 de recherches sur le terrain – et principalement ceux obtenus suite aux fouilles programmées de 2014 et 2015 – qui sont restitués dans le présent article. Quatre niveaux archéologiques sont documentés pour la première fois à Waziers attestant de passages discrets mais récurrents de Néandertaliens depuis le Tardiglaciaire du SIM 6 (c. 140 ka) à l'optimum eemien (SIM 5e, c. 130 ka). L'outillage mis au jour est produit à partir de deux concepts de débitage (Levallois et discoïde). Les vestiges fauniques de vertébrés, essentiellement les mammifères, sont dans un état exceptionnel de conservation, tout comme les bois végétaux constituant une bioconstruction, identifiable comme un barrage ou une hutte de castor. Les témoins des activités de boucherie pratiquées par les Néandertaliens montrent que le décharnement, la fracturation des os longs ainsi que la crémation ont été menées sur le gibier. Si l'aurochs est concerné par la plupart des marques identifiées, le castor présente également des marques de découpe témoignant d'une activité prédatrice des Néandertaliens de Waziers sur ces petits animaux. Le gisement de Waziers le Bas-Terroir constitue donc un jalon majeur pour reconstituer les activités de subsistance des populations néandertaliennes qui peuplaient la France septentrionale durant l'Eemien. Plus largement, Waziers le Bas-Terroir, de par son unicité et la rareté des vestiges organiques qu'il livre, constitue un gisement clé et au potentiel fort pour traiter de la question de la capacité des Néandertaliens à s'adapter au milieu boisé fermé que représente la forêt à l'Eemien en Europe du Nord-Ouest.

The Last Interglacial (LIG or Marine Isotopic Substage 5.5, MIS5.5), which is comprised between similar to 129 and similar to 116 thousand years Before Present (hereafter ky BP), is poorly documented, especially in continental areas, owing to the scarcity of deposits attributable to this period, which corresponds to the Eemian in the chronostratigraphy of northwestern Europe. The scarcity of documentation is even more pronounced for the deglaciation that precedes the LIG, the MIS 6/5 Transition or Termination 2, which lasted about ten thousand years. In this context, the site of Waziers, in Western Europe (France), has an exceptional sequence of successive fine silty-limestone deposits covering the penultimate deglaciation (MIS 6/5) and peat rich in plant remains contemporary with the last interglacial (MIS 5.5). Oxygen isotope analysis of phosphate of tooth enamel from large herbivorous mammals (horse, Equus sp.; megaloceros, Megaloceros giganteus; roe deer, Capreolus capreolus) present in these deposits allows the reconstruction of air paleotemperatures during the lifetime of the animals. The results yield annual mean temperatures of 4.7 +/- 0.6 degrees C for an early phase of the deglaciation (5 teeth of a same individual), of 6.9 +/- 0.5 degrees C for a mid-phase of the deglaciation (1 tooth), and of 8.6 +/- 0.5 degrees C for a phase preceding the establishment of the last interglacial, the MIS5.5 (1 tooth). In deposits contemporary with the latter phase, human artifacts were discovered, as well as in those of MIS5.5. In agreement with the palynological data, the paleotemperatures illustrate a gradual warming during part of the glacial/interglacial transition, the MIS6/5 Transition. The difference of similar to 4 degrees C between the minimal and maximal temperature reconstructed in this study allows us to minimize the temperature difference between the MIS6.2 glacial period and the MIS5.5 interglacial period at the Waziers site.

Over the past thirty years, the Hauts-de-France region has produced a significant number of Neanderthal occupations attributed to the Middle Palaeolithic, correlated with the end of the Middle Pleistocene and the beginning of the Upper Pleistocene. Despite these numerous discoveries, the Eemian - the last Interglacial (129-116 ka) - remains a little-known period on the palaeoenvironmental and anthropological level, an assessment valid for the northern half of France but also for the whole of North-western Europe, and more broadly for Western Europe. In this paper, we retrace the history of the discovery of a new, hitherto unknown, Eemian formation at Waziers (Nord). It takes on particular importance due to the good preservation and diversity of organic remains as well as the presence of archaeological elements. Despite many difficulties, the results obtained after ten years of exploration (2011-2021) at Waziers are abundant and of high quality. They are the result of several operations, led by several actors belonging to different institutions and co-signatories of this paper. We wanted to review here the history of discoveries and operations in order to clearly present the contributions of each intervention. The aim is also to show the importance of the complementarity of observations and the crucial nature of the collaboration of archaeological actors in the exploitation of such discoveries. The documentation collected during this decade of investigations is of prime importance because it is extremely rare to reconstruct the behavior of Neanderthals, the landscapes and environments they traversed and exploited during the Late Glacial of MIS 6 and the Eemian Interglacial. The site of Waziers joins the list of remarkable sites for the study of the Palaeolithic in the North of France (ie complex of sites of Cagny, Caours, Biache-Saint-Vaast or Renancourt) and is reminiscent of many aspects, in particular the quality preservation of its organic remains (especially plant) and by the extent of the preserved Pleistocene deposits, another exceptional Palaeolithic site in Western Europe, the Schoningen site complex.

The stratigraphic observations conducted at Waziers "Le Bas-Terroir" between 2011 and 2015 are spread over approximately 12 ha and were carried out in various intervention contexts (Herisson et al., 2022) using different methods : mechanical pit surveys, geotechnical borings, mechanical auger surveys, and detailed cross-sections. After locating and presenting the main information acquired for each set of observations, we synthesize the stratigraphy mainly from the detailed surveys of the 2014-2015 excavations. We define seven main stratigraphic units, possibly divided into sub-units, from bottom to top: US1 ante-Quaternary substratum, US2 Quaternary slope deposits, US3 coarse alluvial silt, US4 light alluvial silt locally affected by load-casts, US5 silty or peaty alluvial deposits, US6 gullies and reworking of previous deposits, US7a coarse alluvial sheet and US7b-c fluvio-aeolian deposits. The biozones defined by malacology (Limondin-Lozouet, 2022) and palynology (Gauthier, 2022) allow correlations between the 2014-2015 excavations and the observations of the "puisard" (sump) pit and "SC" core samples (about 300 meters away) and a first chronological attribution: Saalien for member 1 (US4 and US5), Eemian for member 2 (US5). The merging of Members 1 and 2 defines the Waziers Formation. The extensive nature of the observations and the geophysical studies (Hulin & Virmoux, 2022), make it possible to apprehend the great extent of the ancient alluvial deposits whose upstream and downstream limits are not yet known. The lithostratigraphic framework presented here allows us to reposition the different studies associated with the deposit: palynology (Gauthier, 2022), macro-plant remains (Audiard et al., submitted), malacology (Limondin-Lozouet, 2022), mammals (Auguste et al., 2022), micro-mammals (Lebreton et al., sous presse), proteogenomics (Bray et al., submitted), ESR and U/Th dating (Bahain et al, 2022), isotopic geochemistry on large mammal teeth (Marechal et al., 2022) and archaeological data (Herisson et al., submitted), before synthesizing them (Deschodt et al., submitted)