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Nouvelles données sur le site majeur d’Écalgrain : datations radiométriques et occupations humaines de la Pointe de la Hague (Cotentin, Normandie)

The raised beaches, heads and human occupations of the Hague peninsula (Cotentin, Normandy): the key site of the Ecalgrain bay
Dominique Cliquet, Jean-Pierre Lautridou, Michel Lamothe, Norbert Mercier, Jean-Luc Schwenninger, Philippe Alix and Gérard Vilgrain
p. 345-359

Abstracts

There are in The Hague peninsula two main levels of raised beaches associated with two marine platforms: the lower beach from 4 to 6 m OD and the upper beach (12-18 m OD). They are covered by periglacial heads (gelifluxion) and loess. The lower beach is mainly eemian and the cover of head and loess weichselian. The upper beach corresponds to the optimum of the MIS 7. However in the Ecalgrain bay the age of the lower beach (5 m OD) is discussed. The cover deposits are complex, with two sequences head-loess separated by an interglacial soil. The peat and humic silt above the beach, below the main sequences head-loess, contains flora and coleoptera witch indicate a slow sea regression at the end of an interglacial and at the beginning of a cold period. The absolute datings (IRSL) are in agreement with the stratigraphy. So the paleo beach is situated at the end of the MIS 7 (marine regression; 190 Ky) and the lower head and loess correspond to the Saalian (MIS 6; 140 Ky for the loess) with a remnant of an eemian forest paleosol, and the upper head and loess are weichselian. Two lithic assemblages have been found below the heads: in the raised beach, the first at the top of the lower unit (sand and gravels), is located in the southern part of the bay; the second, associated to the upper unit (reddish sands), is located between this site and the section 2. There are flints only in the two assemblages. The first dated to the end of the last interglacial and/or during the beginning of the last glacial period, is characterized by flake production and blade removal obtained either by direct debitage, the Levallois method, or for the blades, by core-volume organization. The second, (Saalian) seems oriented towards the production of flakes and points, obtained either by direct debitage or by the Levallois method. These two series correspond to the variability of the Cotentin Middle Palaeolithic, and by extension, to that of northern France.

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References

Bibliographical reference

Dominique Cliquet, Jean-Pierre Lautridou, Michel Lamothe, Norbert Mercier, Jean-Luc Schwenninger, Philippe Alix and Gérard Vilgrain, “Nouvelles données sur le site majeur d’Écalgrain : datations radiométriques et occupations humaines de la Pointe de la Hague (Cotentin, Normandie)”Quaternaire, vol. 20/3 | 2009, 345-359.

Electronic reference

Dominique Cliquet, Jean-Pierre Lautridou, Michel Lamothe, Norbert Mercier, Jean-Luc Schwenninger, Philippe Alix and Gérard Vilgrain, “Nouvelles données sur le site majeur d’Écalgrain : datations radiométriques et occupations humaines de la Pointe de la Hague (Cotentin, Normandie)”Quaternaire [Online], vol. 20/3 | 2009, Online since 01 September 2012, connection on 28 March 2024. URL: http://journals.openedition.org/quaternaire/5244; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/quaternaire.5244

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About the authors

Dominique Cliquet

Service régional de l’Archéologie, Direction régionale des Affaires culturelles de Basse-Normandie et PCR « Les Premiers Hommes en Normandie », 13 bis, rue Saint-Ouen, F-14052 Caen cedex 04 / UMR 6566 CNRS, Université de Rennes 1. Courriel : dominique.cliquet@culture.gouv.fr

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Jean-Pierre Lautridou

M2C, C.N.R.S. – U.M.R. 6143 - Morphodynamique continentale et côtière, Centre de géomorphologie, rue des Tilleuls, F-14000 Caen et PCR « Les Premiers Hommes en Normandie », Direction régionale des Affaires culturelles de Basse-Normandie, 13 bis, rue Saint-Ouen, F-14052 Caen cedex 04

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Michel Lamothe

Université du Québec à Montréal, case postale 8888, succursale Centre-ville, Montréal (Québec), Canada, H3C 3P8. Courriel : lamothe.michel@uqam.ca

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Norbert Mercier

Institut de recherche sur les Archéomatériaux, UMR 5060 CNRS - Université Bx3, Centre de Recherche en Physique Appliquée à l’Archéologie (CRPAA), Maison de l’archéologie, F-33607 Pessac cedex. Courriel : Norbert.Mercier@u-bordeaux3.fr

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Jean-Luc Schwenninger

Luminescence Dating Laboratory, Research Laboratory for Archaeology, 6 Kebble Road, GB-Oxford OX1 3QJ. Courriel : jean-luc.schwenninger@archaeology-research.oxford.ac.uk

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Philippe Alix

Institut national de Recherches archéologiques préventives, Rhône-Alpes - 12, rue Maggiorini, F - 69500 Bron et PCR « Les Premiers Hommes en Normandie », Direction régionale des Affaires culturelles de Basse-Normandie, 13 bis, rue Saint-Ouen, F - 14052 Caen cedex 04

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Gérard Vilgrain

PCR « Les Premiers Hommes en Normandie », Direction régionale des Affaires culturelles de Basse-Normandie, 13 bis, rue Saint-Ouen, F- 14052 Caen cedex 04

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