Preliminary results from new Palaeolithic open-air sites near Bayonne (south-western France)

Rescue archeology operations conducted by INRAP (Institut National de Recherches Archéologiques Préventives) over the past five years on the eastern plateaus of Bayonne (south-western France) have contributed significant new elements to our knowledge of the Paleolithic occupations of Basque Country. New stratigraphic data, combined with numerical dating techniques, have enabled us to develop a new and reliable chronology for the region, enabling a better understanding of the evolution of the landscape since the end of the Middle Pleistocene. A brief Gravettian occupation, unusual in the classic Pyrenean context, provides evidence for complex economic and territorial strategies. Several late Mousterian occupations show an intensive and complementary exploitation during MIS 3, while the Patinated Mousterian lithic assemblages from MIS 5 may correspond to the oft-argued “classic” low mobility strategies of Neandertal groups. Despite their disturbed conditions, the Acheulean assemblages, predating the Eemian, are mostly composed of flint and raise new questions regarding their Cantabrian-Pyrenean context, where coarse stones usually dominate.