The Acheulean workshop of la Noira (France, 700 ka) in the European technological context

摘要

The prehistoric site of la Noira, located in the Cher Valley, a tributary of the Loire River in the center of France, has yielded a lithic assemblage composed of large bifacial tools, cores and flakes. The archaeological level, lying on the Tertiary lacustrine limestone bedrock, was covered and fossilized by a 6 m-thick fluvial sandy formation. The mean age value of ESR dates obtained on bleached fluvial quartz grains sampled in the sandy levels covering the archeological level is 665 55 ka, confirming the antiquity of the archaeological assemblage. ESR dates and the technical characteristics of the assemblage suggest that it is among the oldest sites with bifacial technology in Western Europe.