Ornaments and fragments of fluorite have been found at sixteen Neolithic sites in Belgium and Nor... more Ornaments and fragments of fluorite have been found at sixteen Neolithic sites in Belgium and Northern France, mainly Middle Neolithic sites associated with the Michelsberg culture and the Spiere and Chassean groups. These sites are located in a large geographical area representing different types of sites and various geological backgrounds. One of the aims of this study is to identify where this mineral could have been quarried in the Neolithic and compare the possible source(s) with those used during the Palaeolithic. A survey of some Neolithic fluorite occurrences in Belgium and Northern France was conducted and the origins of this mineral investigated by means of geochemical Rare Earth Elements and Sr-isotopic analysis. We also explore the limitations of isotopic 87Sr/86Sr and REE ratios for analysis of fluorite. Results show that Neolithic fluorite originates from different local and regional sources, mainly the Dinantian limestones/dolostones of the Ardennes Allochthon, in contrast to the use of silicified Givetian limestones of the Calestian Band near Givet (France) during the Magdalenian. The Neolithic fluorite that is studied in this paper is found exclusively at settlement sites whereas elsewhere, fluorite comes exclusively from funerary contexts.
The aim of this article is to follow the chrono-typological evolution (ca 2600-1600 BC) of cerami... more The aim of this article is to follow the chrono-typological evolution (ca 2600-1600 BC) of ceramic assemblages in an area covering north-western France, from the Nord to the Somme departments. The archaeological documentation is sparse and scattered for this period, however we propose a synthesis and a critical appreciation by considering on the same level finds contexts, recent data from isotopic dating and evolution of ceramic shapes and decorations. This work is the continuation of a project undertaken a long time ago on the origins and the components of the Ancient Bronze Age. This new assessment, twenty years later, tries to refine the changes and the continuities on a long term process. With research on the Late Neolithic, which have seen an important development thanks to the excavation of numerous settlements, we are now able to offer a more precise phase separation of the Deûle-Escaut group and of the first appearances of the Bell Beaker culture in the area. At the same time and despite the growth of rescue archaeology during the last twenty years, there hasn’t been a significant increase in data for the Bronze Age.
The main progress from this work is on the precise phase separation of the Bell Beaker culture. We also show that there is no simple and direct relationship between shapes and decorations within these three cultural entities in time. On the contrary, the data points to coexistence strictly without contact, especially between the Deûle-Escaut group and the different expressions of the Bell Beaker with regards to decoration. We also see disruptions between the Bell Beaker decorations and the first ancient Bronze Age sets. One of the major and persisting difficulties when comparing the assemblages comes from the spatial and contextual disconnection observed between Deûle-Escaut settlement sites and Bell Beaker finds. This doesn’t seem to be the case regarding Bell Beaker and Bronze Age because there are many occurrences of Bell Beaker remnants within Bronze Age occupations or close to funerary enclosures.
Even if for the last twenty years interest in artefacts of material cultures of the end of the Neolithic and early Bronze Age have lead to real progress, we have to acknowledge the fact that these groups still resist a clear interpretative framework. It is therefore important to keep actively gathering information whilst favouring global technological approaches on the whole of the material culture.
Lomme, rue du Grand But (Nord) : rapport de diagnostic
Le projet d'aménagement a occasionné un diagnostic archéologique sur une surface avoisinant l... more Le projet d'aménagement a occasionné un diagnostic archéologique sur une surface avoisinant les 7 hectares. Au sein des 173 structures relevées au cours de cette opération, deux occupations se distinguent : une première datée des débuts du second âge du Fer (La Tène ancienne) et une seconde datée du IIe s. de notre ère. La plus ancienne a été identifiée par la présence de mobilier piègé dans des trous de poteau. Si la nature domestique de cette occupation est avérée, son extension sur l'emprise diagnostiquée reste problèmatique à définir. L'habitat rural gallo-romain a laissé une empreinte sur la quasi totalité de la parcelle. Les éléments significatifs se concentrent sur une surface de 2 hectares et se matérialisent par un enclos fossoyé, des trous de poteau, des structures de crémation et un mobilier archéologique riche et varié
Vestiges d'un habitat Villeneuve-Saint-Germain dans la moyenne vallée de l'Oise à Longueil-Sainte-Marie (Oise)
Fouille sur 4 ha, le site du « Barrage » a Longueil-Sainte-Marie (Oise) occupe une butte limoneus... more Fouille sur 4 ha, le site du « Barrage » a Longueil-Sainte-Marie (Oise) occupe une butte limoneuse. Le terrain a subi une importante erosion entrainant un fort arasement des structures. L'occupation, repartie sur 1,6 ha, se scinde en deux entites distantes de 200 m. Ces ensembles se distinguent par leur positionnement (pente/sommet de butte) et la morphologie des fosses differente (circulaires/oblongues). Le mobilier recueilli accredite cette dichotomie dont la seule interpretation en terme chronologique demeure hypothetique (Villeneuve-Saint-Germain ancien et recent ?) et non unique (difference de fonction ?). Parmi les quatre sepultures associees, l'analyse taphonomique a permis la reconnaissance d'une decomposition du corps en espace vide pour certaines. Malgre la faiblesse quantitative de mobilier et l'absence flagrante de traces d'habitation, il demeure tres probable qu'elles soient en relation directe avec des habitats. L'un des acquis majeurs repos...
Hauts-de-France, Illies, Salomé, Les Auvillers. Illies et Salomé, Les Auvillers (Nord). Des occupations rurales de la fin du Hallstatt à l'Antiquité : rapport de diagnostic
Les resultats du diagnostic permettent de suivre sept siecles d’occupations humaines entre le Ve ... more Les resultats du diagnostic permettent de suivre sept siecles d’occupations humaines entre le Ve s. avant notre ere et le IIe s. apres notre ere. Ils se caracterisent par une importante variabilite des structures mises au jour dans un contexte stratigraphique complexe marque par de nombreux recoupements et recouvrements. A partir du Hallstatt final - La Tene ancienne, une vaste installation en aire ouverte sur environ 7 ha s’implante dans la partie occidentale de l’emprise. Les donnees recueillies illustrent plusieurs aspects de la vie quotidienne : structures d’habitat ou a vocation artisanale. Ces vestiges s’accompagnent d’un mobilier archeologique abondant identifiant des rejets d’activites domestiques et artisanales et caracterisant une vocation agropastorale. Le site des « Auvillers » offre l’opportunite de completer les connaissances des cultures materielles comme l’evolution des facies ceramiques entre le Hallstatt final et La Tene ancienne. L’interet de ces vestiges apparait...
« Le marais de Santes » : évolution de la Deûle en rapport avec l'occupation humaine
Le lieu-dit « le marais de Santes » a Houplin-Ancoisne (Nord) se situe en bordure de la Deule. De... more Le lieu-dit « le marais de Santes » a Houplin-Ancoisne (Nord) se situe en bordure de la Deule. Des sondages y ont ete menes dans un petit secteur du fond de vallee apportant des informations sur de l’evolution de la riviere et son rapport avec les occupations archeologiques. L’examen de la stratigraphie allie aux resultats des etudes environnementales a permis de reconstituer les transformations du paysage d’un meandre de la Deule du Pleniglaciaire a l’âge du Bronze. Cependant la demonstration d’une mise en place diachronique des depots amene a approfondir les interpretations et pousse a eviter les schemas simplistes. Les occupations humaines du meandre sont attestees au Neolithique par la decouverte des vestiges d’une enceinte et d’un abondant mobilier archeologiques. L’existence d’un chemin utilise durant tout l’âge du Bronze a egalement ete constatee.
Des indices d'une occupation néolithique dans le bassin de l'Escaut à Proville la Marlière (Nord)
Au cours d'une prospection pedestre dans le Bassin de l'Escaut, la collecte d'un mate... more Au cours d'une prospection pedestre dans le Bassin de l'Escaut, la collecte d'un materiel compose exclusivement d'une industrie lithique a Proville (Nord), au Sud de Cambrai, enrichit nos connaissances sur les occupations neolithiques de la region. Malheureusement, la composition de l'assemblage et l'absence de mobilier ceramique ne permettent pas d'attribution chronologique precise.
Cartographie du phosphore dans des bâtiments allongés du Néolithique dans le Nord de la France, en Belgique et au Luxembourg
Revue archéologique de Picardie. Numéro spécial, 2011
Ziel dieser Arbeit ist ein besseres Verständnis der Funktionszuweisung der neolithischen Langbaut... more Ziel dieser Arbeit ist ein besseres Verständnis der Funktionszuweisung der neolithischen Langbauten mittels Verteilungskarten des Phosphors und deren Evolution. Ein besonderer Akzent liegt auf den jüngeren Studien mehrerer endneolithischer Häuser. Die Karten wurden mithilfe von systematischen Phosphortests und einigen gezielteren Gesamt-Phosphatanalysen erstellt. Im Bereich der Funktionszuweisung und der Organisation der Gebäude zeichnen sich bereits einige Tendenzen ab, selbst wenn nicht alle Studien dieser Gebäude abgeschlossen sind. Die ersten Ergebnisse lassen grundlegende Aspekte der Methodologie und Taphonomie erkennen und ermöglichen es die zukünftigen Studien in den betroffenen Regionen zu orientieren.
Structuration et durée d’utilisation des enceintes à fossés et/ou palissades du Néolithique moyen 2 (4200-3800 CalBC) dans la France du Nord –
Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe - HAL - Inrap, Nov 8, 2019
Genomic studies conducted on ancient individuals across Europe
have revealed how migrations have ... more Genomic studies conducted on ancient individuals across Europe have revealed how migrations have contributed to its present genetic landscape, but the territory of present-day France has yet to be connected to the broader European picture. We generated a large dataset comprising the complete mitochondrial genomes, Y-chromosome markers, and genotypes of a number of nuclear loci of interest of 243 individuals sampled across present-day France over a period spanning 7,000 y, complemented with a partially overlapping dataset of 58 low-coverage genomes. This panel provides a high-resolution transect of the dynamics of maternal and paternal lineages in France as well as of autosomal genotypes. Parental lineages and genomic data both revealed demographic patterns in France for the Neolithic and Bronze Age transitions consistent with neighboring regions, first with a migration wave of Anatolian farmers followed by varying degrees of admixture with autochthonous hunter-gatherers, and then substantial gene flow from individuals deriving part of their ancestry from the Pontic steppe at the onset of the Bronze Age. Our data have also highlighted the persistence of Magdalenian-associated ancestry in hunter-gatherer populations outside of Spain and thus provide arguments for an expansion of these populations at the end of the Paleolithic Period more northerly than what has been described so far. Finally, no major demographic changes were detected during the transition between the Bronze and Iron Ages.
Uploads
Papers by Ivan PRAUD
and compare the possible source(s) with those used during the Palaeolithic. A survey of some Neolithic fluorite
occurrences in Belgium and Northern France was conducted and the origins of this mineral investigated by means of geochemical Rare Earth Elements and Sr-isotopic analysis. We also explore the limitations of isotopic 87Sr/86Sr and REE ratios for analysis of fluorite. Results show that Neolithic fluorite originates from different local and regional sources, mainly the Dinantian limestones/dolostones of the Ardennes Allochthon, in contrast to the use of silicified Givetian limestones of the Calestian Band near Givet (France) during the Magdalenian. The Neolithic fluorite that is studied in this paper is found exclusively at settlement sites whereas elsewhere, fluorite comes exclusively from funerary contexts.
The main progress from this work is on the precise phase separation of the Bell Beaker culture. We also show that there is no simple and direct relationship between shapes and decorations within these three cultural entities in time. On the contrary, the data points to coexistence strictly without contact, especially between the Deûle-Escaut group and the different expressions of the Bell Beaker with regards to decoration. We also see disruptions between the Bell Beaker decorations and the first ancient Bronze Age sets. One of the major and persisting difficulties when comparing the assemblages comes from the spatial and contextual disconnection observed between Deûle-Escaut settlement sites and Bell Beaker finds. This doesn’t seem to be the case regarding Bell Beaker and Bronze Age because there are many occurrences of Bell Beaker remnants within Bronze Age occupations or close to funerary enclosures.
Even if for the last twenty years interest in artefacts of material cultures of the end of the Neolithic and early Bronze Age have lead to real progress, we have to acknowledge the fact that these groups still resist a clear interpretative framework.
It is therefore important to keep actively gathering information whilst favouring global technological approaches on the whole of the material culture.
have revealed how migrations have contributed to its present
genetic landscape, but the territory of present-day France has yet
to be connected to the broader European picture. We generated a
large dataset comprising the complete mitochondrial genomes,
Y-chromosome markers, and genotypes of a number of nuclear
loci of interest of 243 individuals sampled across present-day
France over a period spanning 7,000 y, complemented with a partially overlapping dataset of 58 low-coverage genomes. This panel
provides a high-resolution transect of the dynamics of maternal
and paternal lineages in France as well as of autosomal genotypes.
Parental lineages and genomic data both revealed demographic
patterns in France for the Neolithic and Bronze Age transitions
consistent with neighboring regions, first with a migration wave
of Anatolian farmers followed by varying degrees of admixture
with autochthonous hunter-gatherers, and then substantial gene
flow from individuals deriving part of their ancestry from the
Pontic steppe at the onset of the Bronze Age. Our data have also
highlighted the persistence of Magdalenian-associated ancestry in
hunter-gatherer populations outside of Spain and thus provide
arguments for an expansion of these populations at the end of
the Paleolithic Period more northerly than what has been described so far. Finally, no major demographic changes were detected during the transition between the Bronze and Iron Ages.