Saint-Prest (northern France): further evidence of human presence in north-western Europe around 1 Ma?
Résumé
As part of a multidisciplinary research program, we sought to locate the collections dispersed in various public and private institutions and conducted an archaeozoological analysis of the material identified [3]. Concerning the lithic material, only the 4 flint flakes published by the Abbey Bourgeois [4] and now preserved in the Musée d'archéologie nationale, could be discussed to assess human passages. Concerning the fauna, out of about 600 fossils examined, 5 to 10 traces could be considered as anthropic cut-marks. The evidence is therefore scarce to attest a hominin presence in Saint-Prest around 1 Ma. However, in the pene-contemporaneous sites, particularly around the Mediterranean basin and in the Yunxian site in China, traces of cut-marks are often rare as well. Thus, the Saint-Prest site, along with those of Happisburgh 3 and Pakefield in UK, could testify the earliest human occupations in Western Europe in their northernmost extension.
Domaines
Archéologie et Préhistoire
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