The Lower Palaeolithic site of Pen Hat (Crozon, Brittany) and its regional stratigraphic context

• Published in: Quaternaire
• Main Authors: Van Vliet-Lanoë, Brigitte, Hérisson, David, Dabrowski, Élie, Authemayou, Christine, Frechen, Manfred, Hallégouët, Bernard, Paris, Florentin
• Other Authors: Laboratoire Géosciences Océan (LGO), Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer - Brest (IFREMER Centre de Bretagne), Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER)-Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER)-Université de Bretagne Sud (UBS)-Université de Brest (UBO)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Archéologies et Sciences de l'Antiquité (ArScAn), Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (UP1)-Université Paris Nanterre (UPN)-Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication (MCC)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Anthropologie des techniques, des espaces et des territoires au Pliocène et au Pléistocène (AnTET), Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (UP1)-Université Paris Nanterre (UPN)-Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication (MCC)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (UP1)-Université Paris Nanterre (UPN)-Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication (MCC)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Université Paris Nanterre (UPN), Leibniz Institute for Applied Geophysics (LIAG), Leibniz Association, Département de Géographie, Université de Bretagne Occidentale, Géosciences Rennes (GR), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Observatoire des Sciences de l'Univers de Rennes (OSUR)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université de Rennes 1 (UR1), Université de Rennes (UNIV-RENNES)-Université de Rennes (UNIV-RENNES)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: French
• Published: HAL CCSD 2021
• Subjects: marine high stand; lithic technology; palaeoenvironments; dating; stratigraphy; sea ice; technologie lithique; paléoenvironnements; datation; stratigraphie; banquise; haut niveau marin; [SHS.ARCHEO]Humanities and Social Sciences/Archaeology and Prehistory; Flint; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03226614; https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03226614/document; https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03226614/file/VAN%20VLIET%20LANOE%20et%20al%202021%20PenHat%20Quaternaire.pdf; https://doi.org/10.4000/quaternaire.15038

International audience The two exceptional sites of Pen Hat and Trez Rouz (Crozon Peninsula, Brittany), and that of Trégana (North of the Brest Harbour, Brittany) are rare owing to the preservation of Pleistocene formations dated by infrared stimulated luminescence, electron spin resonance and radiocarbon. They highlight the regional occurrence of periglacial cover sands from the MIS 6, and of a high marine level attributed to the MIS 9a. These three sites in Western Finistere are key-sites to determine the conditions of occupation of archaeological sites during the Middle Pleistocene. During late MIS 11, the men settled south-east of the relief of the Toulinguet point, in an area sheltered from the prevailing west and north winds on the shore of a lagoon, between two pebble spits, an outcrop for small flint pebbles. Human occupations are mainly observed at the end of the interglacial periods thanks to the preservation of sediments of high marine stands or of early marine regressions with some fast ice, allowing hunting’ possibilities on the just cleared sandy plains. Small and poorly prepared flakes with a single raw cutting-edge characterise this lithic series. Pen Hat toolkit appears atypical in the landscape of the Briton Lower Palaeolithic, especially known for its Large Cutting Tools of grained rocks (pebble tools and handaxes). Comparisons with the contemporaneous units of the Menez-Dregan reference site (layers 9 to 7) reveal some similarities. Nevertheless, it remains insufficient for a better inside the variability of the Lower Palaeolithic in Armorican lands. This suggests to explore another Middle Pleistocene sedimentary sequences with interesting archaeological potential, such as Pen Hat, Trez-Rouz and Trégana. If Pen Hat –Toulinguet represents clearly a key site and, for the moment, an atypical assemblage at a regional scale, its technology is seemingly coherent with the variability of the assemblages of the Lower European Palaeolithic. Les deux sites exceptionnels de Pen Hat et de Trez Rouz ...