Le gisement paléolithique moyen et supérieur de Karreg-Ar-Yellan (Ploubazlanec, Côtes-du-Nord)

Abstract

The recent excavations of the site of Karreg-ar-Yellan have shown the presence, at the bottom and around this rock-shelter, of two Palaeolithic settlement levels : on one hand, a very narrow (because largely eroded and destroyed by Protohistoric occupation) Upper Palaeolithic level ; on the other hand, a more extensive Middle Palaeolithic one. The industry of the Upper Palaeolithic, very scanty, is stratigraphically located in a lœss anterior to the recent lœss, the so-called "blankel-lœss"; the presence of one backed point ("microgravelte" ) can suggest a comparison with the Upper Perigordian. The industry of the Middle Palaeolithic (flint and microgranite) consists of two series respectively discovered at the foot of the rock and in a more distant area, under the present-day beach. Despite a stylistic unity, these two series show an important typologie variation which must be attributed to activity localisations in the dwelling place (the stratigraphic observations and the sedimenlologic analysis prove that they belong to the same layer). It is a Middle Palaeolithic "with handaxes" , that we can compare to the industries of Kervouster, Bois-du-Rocher and Tréissény in which we think we can detect resemblances with some techno-cultural features from Central Europe ("Jungacheuléen" , "Micoquien").