The open-air site of Mirande 2 (Vaïssac, Tarn-et-Garonne): a new Badegoulian site in the lower Quercy region

Abstract

The recently discovered open-air site of Mirande 2 (Vaissac, Tarn-et Garonne) lies on a gentle incline of the left bank of the Aveyron River approximately 100 metres from the site of Mirande 1 (Negrepelisse, Tarn-et-Garonne), which was excavated between 1971 and 1976 by R. Guicharnaud. A test-pit carried out during rescue work evaluated the site’s potential, provided important geological data and produced diagnostic archaeological material. The three excavated sectors (South Trench, North Section and Test-Pit) preserved only lithic material (flint and quartz), whose typo-technological composition evinces a chrono-culturally coherent assemblage. Initial archaeo-stratigraphic information indicates a single concentration of archaeological material that varies in thickness by sector. Attributable to the Badegoulian, the lithic assemblage comprises various blanks and multiple types of raw materials. Several shaped trachyte blocks and quartz pebbles, exploited for the production of heavy-duty tools and flakes, likely derive from the palaeo-terrace occupied by the human groups. While the majority of the flint artefacts come from the terraces of the Vere and Aveyron Rivers, a limited quantity of non-local raw materials were introduced from sources some 100 km to the north. These latter artefacts are found uniquely as tools that were likely discarded at the end of their use-lives. Two types of domestic tool blanks were identified; endscrapers, combination tools and laterally retouched pieces on blades and elongated flakes alongside scrapers and raclettes on flakes produced according to different, sometimes independent chaines operatoires. In terms of the blade and elongated flake component, our preliminary analysis suggests blanks to have been detached from either a wide surface or from wedge-shaped cores. Finally, microliths are represented by different types of backed micro-bladelets on blanks produced from nodules and flakes. In addition to Mirande 2 being a new open-air occupation on the palaeo-terraces of the Aveyron River near its confluence with the Gouyre, it is also amongst the first evidence for the Badegoulian between the Lanquedoc and Quercy regions in an area where this culture remained poorly documented.