Acheulean technical behaviors in Aldene cave (Cesseras, Herault, France)

摘要

The cave of Aldene (Cesseras, Herault, France) is usually known for the preservation of its upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic evidence. However, older occupations are located at the entrance and the collapsed zone of this vast karst network. Unfortunately, companies looking for phosphate had earlier truncated this original filling and only nine Paleolithic stratigraphic outliers (T1 to T9) remained. Repeatedly excavated by the Museum of Prehistoric Anthropology of Monaco, from 1971 until 1998, they mainly registered Acheulean (cf. Tayacian) and Pre-mousterian activities. As interdisciplinary studies and radiometric dating (Th-230/U-234 and ESR) were undertaken, it was possible to set up chronostratigraphic and paleoenvironnemental contexts, which mostly extend from the end of MIS 13 up to MIS 5.5. The results obtained in the different units also allowed the correlation of remote layers.