La Quina « aval » (Gardes-le-Pontaroux, Charente). Nouvelles données sur les comportements de subsistance à l’Aurignacien ancien

• Published in: Bulletin de la Société préhistorique française
• Main Author: Soulier, Marie-Cécile
• Other Authors: Travaux et recherches archéologiques sur les cultures, les espaces et les sociétés (TRACES), École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS)-Université Toulouse - Jean Jaurès (UT2J), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication (MCC)-Institut national de recherches archéologiques préventives (Inrap)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: French
• Published: HAL CCSD 2017
• Subjects: Paléolithique supérieur ancien; Aurignacien; archéozoologie; boucherie; subsistance; ongulés; [SHS.ARCHEO]Humanities and Social Sciences/Archaeology and Prehistory; Rangifer tarandus
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-01980789; https://hal.science/hal-01980789/document; https://hal.science/hal-01980789/file/2017_Soulier_BSPF.pdf; https://doi.org/10.3406/bspf.2017.14771

International audience La Quina ‘ aval’— located at Gardes-le-Pontaroux in the Charente region of France— is one of the key sites for the Early Aurignacian. Much of the research at the site was conducted during the 20th century, first by Dr. Léon Henri-Martin between 1906 and 1936, and subsequently by his daughter Germaine between 1953 and 1971. Large quantities of lithic tools, faunal remains, bone tools, objects of adornment, and human remains were recovered during these two sets of excavations. Despite this, La Quina ‘ aval’ remains fairly marginal in discussions surrounding the emergence of the Upper Palaeolithic, mostly due to concerns about recovery distortion related to 20th-century excavation standards. The faunal remains, for example, were not fully recovered and are therefore unsuitable for modern zooarchaeological studies. V. Dujardin undertook new excavations in 1994, 1995, and 1998 : the stratigraphic sections of two survey-pits from the Henri-Martin excavations were cleaned and a new trench was opened. A large quantity of faunal remains, very well preserved, was recovered during the recent interventions. This material provides the basis for examination of carcass-processing activities that took place at La Quina ‘ aval’ and, more broadly, provides further insights into ways of life at the beginning of the Upper Palaeolithic. More than 5,300 remains have been analysed in addition to recording in a standard database, each element that could be precisely positioned on a complete bone has been drawn on Illustrator templates along with any marks observed on the surfaces (carnivore damage, cut marks, impact notches, etc.), which allowed for a detailed analysis of carcass-processing. Overall, the data obtained on the faunal remains from La Quina ‘ aval’ are consistent with those documented for the Early Aurignacian elsewhere in the northern Aquitaine Basin. Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) dominates the faunal spectrum (95.6% of the NISP), with smaller numbers of horse (Equus caballus), bovids (Bovinae), ...