L'abri B des Eissartènes (Le Val, Var). Occupation et gravures post-glaciaires du site.

Abstract

Shelter B is situated in the cliff of Eissartènes, under a slightly overhanging rock so that it is not very deep. The collapse of blocks that were above it has allowed a stratified accumulation of sediments, thus slightly enlarging the usable surface area of the place. The archaeological context shows the site to have been used several times from Late Bronze II until the first beginning of the Roman Empire. Studies on the material, the sediments and the bones allow to define the nature of the occupations and the periods of abandonment : camp site and secondary burying place in the late Bronze Age, pastoral activities and crafts in a temporary camp (shepherds, hunters) at the very end of the Bronze Age and early in the Iron Age, organised pastoral activities in an enclosed and covered space (goats ans sheep) in the Ist c. B.C. The ultimate sheepfold will be destroyed by the sudden caving in a stratum of rock, killing thirteen animals. It appears that a little later (around the change of era) the sheiter was decorated with schematic linear engravings.