La 6e phase de fouille (1998) du site situe dans l’emprise de la Carriere Morillon-Corvol de Changis-sur-Marne (Seine-et-Marne) s’est deroulee sur environ 2,6 ha, et, comme a l’accoutumee, en anticipation des travaux d’extraction de la carriere dont le front de taille se deplace perpendiculairement a la Marne, du nord vers le sud-est (fig. 1). On rappellera que l’occupation humaine de Changis-sur-Marne « les Petreaux » appartient a la longue duree puisque 15 ha de la nappe alluviale deja foui...

Un site de plaine alluviale de la basse vallée de la Marne a pu être suivi de façon exceptionnelle sur soixante-dix hectares entre 1995 et 2004 dans la carrière Cemex, qui exploite des granulats dans le double méandre d’Armentières en amont de Meaux. Cette fouille extensive préventive a révélé une multitude de traces d’occupations discontinues depuis le Ve millénaire av. J.-C. jusqu’au IVe siècle ap. J.-C. Parmi elles, dix tombes furent fouillées et attribuées au Néolithique moyen II. Ce type de vestige, encore rare dans la moitié nord de la France, fait ici l’objet d’une présentation détaillée suivie d’une synthèse replaçant le site de Changis dans le contexte du Néolithique moyen régional.

The collation of information from Early Bronze Age domestic and mortuary contexts in an area 60 kilometres long in the downstream Marne valley, east of Paris, has made it possible to flesh out the hitherto thin research literature. Recent developments such as the excavation of increasingly large surfaces, the characterisation of regional series and the considerable amount of information gained through preventive archaeology have made it possible to better understand a period hitherto best known in the region because of the discovery of a limited number of metal objects. This article organises the information, looking at a dozen archaeological indicators and considering fifteen domestic and mortuary sites. The position of these sites, usually in the valley bottom, sometimes on the slopes, but rarely on the edge of the plateau, is studied. The settlements can be divided into two categories. Firstly, those which have between one and a dozen pits and abundant material, such as the Grand Godet site at Villeneuve-le-Roi. Secondly, the sites on which there are apsidal buildings which do not respect a common alignment. The mortuary sites contain crouched burials in large pits aligned north south or north west/ south east. The pits contain no artefacts and the dating evidence comes merely from radiocarbon analysis. There is little pottery but ovoid or barrel-shaped narrow-necked vases with an everted rim have been found. There are also carinated vases with handles. The applied decoration subdivides into arched cordons, of which some of the principal forms are discussed, horizontal smooth or thumbed cordons, applied strips and pellets. The principal decoration is achieved by the use of a cord larger than that used for Beaker pottery but also through the use of micro-perforations. Last but not least, the comparative frequency of aligned or superposed thumbed decoration is remarkable. The ten radiocarbon dates from both funerary and domestic contexts are from the first four centuries of the second millennium BC. A susceptibility to both Atlantic and continental influences is noteworthy. The building structures are comparable with southern examples whereas the abundance of arched cordon decoration shows a clear northern influence. The latter also influences the various mortuary practices, with the exception of cremation and monumental tombs.

The collation of information from Early Bronze Age domestic and mortuary contexts in an area 60 kilometres long in the downstream Marne valley, east of Paris, has made it possible to flesh out the hitherto thin research literature. Recent developments such as the excavation of increasingly large surfaces, the characterisation of regional series and the considerable amount of information gained through preventive archaeology have made it possible to better understand a period hitherto best known in the region because of the discovery of a limited number of metal objects. This article organises the information, looking at a dozen archaeological indicators and considering fifteen domestic and mortuary sites. The position of these sites, usually in the valley bottom, sometimes on the slopes, but rarely on the edge of the plateau, is studied. The settlements can be divided into two categories. Firstly, those which have between one and a dozen pits and abundant material, such as the Grand Godet site at Villeneuve-le-Roi. Secondly, the sites on which there are apsidal buildings which do not respect a common alignment. The mortuary sites contain crouched burials in large pits aligned north south or north west/south east. The pits contain no artefacts and the dating evidence comes merely from radiocarbon analysis. There is little pottery but ovoid or barrel-shaped narrow-necked vases with an everted rim have been found. There are also carinated vases with handles. The applied decoration subdivides into arched cordons, of which some of the principal forms are discussed, horizontal smooth or thumbed cordons, applied strips and pellets. The principal decoration is achieved by the use of a cord larger than that used for Beaker pottery but also through the use of micro-perforations. Last but not least, the comparative frequency of aligned or superposed thumbed decoration is remarkable. The ten radiocarbon dates from both funerary and domestic contexts are from the first four centuries of the second millennium BC. A susceptibility to both Atlantic and continental influences is noteworthy. The building structures are comparable with southern examples whereas the abundance of arched cordon decoration shows a clear northern influence. The latter also influences the various mortuary practices, with the exception of cremation and monumental tombs.

Un site de plaine alluviale de la basse vallée de la Marne a pu être suivi de façon exceptionnelle sur une cinquantaine d’hectares au cours des dix dernières années dans la carrière Cemex, qui exploite les granulats dans le double méandre d’Armentières, en amont de Meaux. Cette fouille préventive extensive a permis de découvrir, entre autres choses, une série de fermes successives du Bronze final moyen et final, que l’on peut déjà mettre en relation avec les deux noyaux de nécropole à incinérations, situés à environ 250 m de l’habitat, sur la butte ancienne; le motif de cette recherche a été la mise en évidence de la structure spatiale interne de chaque unité domestique reconnue en croisant toutes les données du site: céramique, faune, lithique, macrorestes et os humains. Les hypothèses d’interprétation faites dès 2002 sont le fruit d’un travail collectif mené depuis sept années par une même équipe INRAP; les premiers résultats présentés dans ce texte sur les activités domestiques de l’habitat rural du Bronze final ont été obtenus avant même l’achèvement de la fouille sur le terrain.

During the last ten years, a sample of fifty hectares of an alluvial plain open-air site has been studied in an exceptional way. The site is located in the sand quarry of Cemex in the River Marne's double bend at Armentieres, upstream from Meaux. A series of farms belonging to the middle and the late phases of the Final Bronze Age have been discovered by the preventive excavation. We know that those farms can be connected to the two nuclei of the incineration necropolis situated around 250 metres away on the ancient mound. This research has revealed the internal spatial structure of each domestic unit known. The crossing of the site data by specialists has been necessary: ceramic and lithic assemblages, fauna, vegetal remains and human bones. The members of the INRAP team, who have been working together for seven years, have proposed interpretations since 2002. The first conclusions on the domestic activities of the Final Bronze rural habitat presented in this paper were drawn before the end of the excavation (trad. Raffaelle Coeffard).

The site of Changis-sur-Marne "les Petreaux" (Seine-et-Marne) has been the subject of extensive excavations since 1995. The site is located in the upstream zone of a wide meander of the lower Marne Valley, a few kilometres to the east of Meaux. The plots already excavated cover about 40 hectares.The occupation of the valley here includes a large protohistoric funerary zone on the slope of the eroded former terrace. This overlooks about 500 m of an alluvial layer descending gently to the Marne. The first 300 metres beyond the flood plain present a dwelling which developed at the end of the Early Neolithic, some twenty isolated burials, and protohistoric open agricultural establishments. The latter follow one another on the same spot for more than a millennium from the end of Late Bronze IIb/IIIa (RSFO) until the late La Tene period with no important interruptions but with varying degrees of density. For the Late Bronze Age, two focal points have been discovered. One is merely probable and the almost total lack of artefacts has not helped its study; the second, much better documented, has given rise to a search for markers of the slow evolution of this rural world.Our working hypothesis is founded on the spatial approach of peasant households during the last two phases of the Late Bronze Age, at the time of the transition to the first Iron Age and Early/Middle Hallstatt in the same location. It is based on the cross-referencing of all data regarding the vestiges studied and gathered during the successive excavation campaigns: the classification of the architecture of the buildings, pits and silos has been correlated with the artefact data and the degree of proximity between the structures. In spite of the low number of artefacts found for each of the five internal chronological stages defined by the pottery and a complex horizontal stratigraphy we have attempted to perceive the elementary composition of the eleven rural domestic units thus identified; their probable surfaces - without the peripheral silos - vary between approximately 3000 square metres for the smallest (and earliest) and 1.2 hectares for the largest (and most recent).

kilometres to the east of Meaux. The plots already excavated cover about 40 hectares. The occupation of the valley here includes a large protohistoric funerary zone on the slope of the eroded former terrace. This overlooks about 500 m of an alluvial layer descending gently to the Marne. The first 300 metres beyond the flood plain present a dwelling which developed at the end of the Early Neolithic, some twenty isolated burials, and protohistoric open agricultural establishments. The latter follow one another on the same spot for more than a millennium from the end of Late Bronze IIb/ IIIa (RSFO) until the late La Tène period with no important interruptions but with varying degrees of density. For the Late Bronze Age, two focal points have been discovered. One is merely probable and the almost total lack of artefacts has not helped its study; the second, much better documented, has given rise to a search for markers of the slow evolution of this rural world. Our working hypothesis is founded on the spatial approach of peasant households during the last two phases of the Late Bronze Age, at the time of the transition to the first Iron Age and Early/ Middle Hallstatt in the same location. It is based on the cross-referencing of all data regarding the vestiges studied and gathered during the successive excavation campaigns: the classification of the architecture of the buildings, pits and silos has been correlated with the artefact data and the degree of proximity between the structures. In spite of the low number of artefacts found for each of the five internal chronological stages defined by the pottery and a complex horizontal stratigraphy we have attempted to perceive the elementary composition of the eleven rural domestic units thus identified; their probable surfaces - without the peripheral silos - vary between approximately 3000 square metres for the smallest (and earliest) and 1.2 hectares for the largest (and most recent).

The diagenetic evolution of bones of different mammal species from two French Neolithic sites (around 4,000 BC), Louviers (Eure) and Bercy (Paris), has been studied using different approaches. Global carbon and nitrogen content of bone powders were a good proxy for collagen content; delta(13)C values of whole bone carbon have been used to detect the presence of humic contaminants; thin sections were investigated to determine the stare of preservation of histological structures and to detect staining and microbial alterations. Collagen has been extracted and its yield and C/N ratio have been measured. Both sites are located on the edge of palaeochannels, and bones were recovered from different burial environments. Comparison of the diagenetic alteration in these different depositional environments demonstrates that different mechanisms are involved and lead to very different states of preservation of the histological structures and of the collagen. The results of this study suggest that such sites may be a useful model to understand the early diagenetic alteration stages of much older palaeontological bones deposited in fluvial environments.