An occasional Neanderthal hunting lodge?
The plot of land lies within the plateau formations separating the Moselle and its tributary, the Fensch. Initial working hypotheses point to an archaeological level dating back to the beginning of the last ice age, between 110,000 and 70,000 years ago. They are based on the roof of an alluvial fill, which could be that of the Fensch or Moselle, reached during a deep borehole. According to recent geomorphological work on the Moselle (S. Cordier), this is an ancient terrace whose initial fill dates from the Eemian interglacial, between 120 and 110,000 years ago. If this were the case, the Fameck archaeo-sedimentary sequence would therefore belong to the last Weichselian glaciation, after 110,000 years ago. The silty sequences overlying the alluvial levels are not directly comparable with the loessic reference sequences of northern France, but the presence of a Middle Paleolithic industry sets a terminal limit of around 35,000 years. Lastly, a laminar industry suggests production prior to 70,000 years ago. Subsequent analyses should enable us to refine this age: thin sections, direct dating of sediments (OSL), heated furniture (Thermoluminescence) and a horse mandible (ESR).
The excellent state of preservation of the furniture suggests little or no reworking. Reassemblies can clarify whether specific cutting activities took place and ensure the contemporaneity of certain areas. The numerous reworked tools are probably used on the site to transform materials that the tracing study will attempt to determine. The lithic corpus shows a diversified supply of essentially local materials, such as quartz, quartzite and limestone, used in equivalent proportions. These local materials were brought to the site in the form of pre-prepared nuclei, from which a few flakes were extracted.
Various types of flint from more distant origins are introduced in smaller proportions, around 10% of the series, and essentially in the form of finished products. Lithic production methods are partly reminiscent of those used in northern France at the beginning of the last Ice Age: recurrent Levallois, discoidal and laminar debitage have been identified. A lamellar component on the sliver is an original feature already observed in a few sites from this period, such as Seclin in the Nord département and Etouteville in the Seine-Maritime département. In the absence of any obvious structuring, spatial analyses by object category may indicate areas of activity within the site, as a complement to technical and layout analyses.
Contributions of the Fameck excavation
The excavation of the Fameck site is helping to define a chrono-stratigraphic, environmental and cultural framework for Paleolithic occupations in Lorraine. It also serves to interpret the numerous series collected during prospecting. The diversity of raw materials and production methods enables us to question Neanderthal territories, and the notions of technical and functional complementarity of tools.
Over and above these local contributions, the corpus of 700 lithic pieces is the largest ever discovered in a preventive context in the north-eastern quarter of France, i.e. in Lorraine, but also in Alsace and Champagne. The excavation thus provides the first elements for assessing this region’s place in European settlement. Its geographical position at the entrance to the Paris Basin, with direct links to the Rhine Graben and the great plains of the north, makes it a privileged observatory of possible continental migrations, well attested by large fauna such as the mammoth.
Developer: Khor immobilier
Archaeological research: Inrap
