Pre-Neandertal behaviour during isotopic stage 9 and the beginning of stage 8. New data concerning fauna and lithics in the different occupation levels of orgnac 3 (Ardèche, South-East France): occupation types

Abstract

The morphology of the Orgnac 3 site has changed over time. This human settlement was once a cave, until it was transformed into a rock shelter and finally an open air site. The stratigraphical sequence has been dated to between isotopic stages 9 and 8. Human groups frequented the site in spite of its changing context, establishing living spaces close to cave walls or around hearths. The site thus provides an ideal opportunity to observe artefact spatial distribution and changing technological systems. The Levallois debitage method appears at the top of the sequence, around 300 000 B.P. Analysis of fauna and lithics from levels 6 and 2 reveals evidence of different human activities. Regardless of these activities, human groups lived and organized their settlement in the same way, whatever the length of the occupation (several short and one long occupation are represented). Their behaviour appears to have remained unchanged no matter what species was hunted or what lithic technology was practised.