The Last Glacial Maximum and the Late Glacial in northern France - Palaeoecological implications of animal community structuration and feeding behaviours based on dental microwear texture analysis

This paper examines the behaviour of animal communities in northern France from the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) to the Late Glacial (LG). We explore how faunal remains can contribute significantly to a better understanding of the palaeoenvironment of the area that was a western hub between the southern and the northernmost European areas. Northern France is a crucial and fascinating geographical framework where animal communities survived extreme and unstable climate phases during the LGM and LG. More ample investigation is needed to understand such specific palaeoecological dynamics. Based on the palaeoenvironmental context of specific animal communities, we focused on the composition variability of these communities in order to investigate their palaeoecological structuration and evolution. To complete our approach, we analyzed horse and reindeer dental microwear in order to characterize the feeding ecology of the prey most hunted by humans during both the LGM and the LG in northern France. Based on our results, we would like to confront the models of Extension-Contraction and Cryptic Northern Refugia for the LGM, and evoke the evolution of colonization processes until the LG.