Le Gravettien entre Saône et Loire : bilan et apports récents

Abstract

Gravettian between Saône an Loire : results and recents contributions. The central-eastern region of France shelters a lot of gravettian sites that happen to concentrate mainly between the valleys of the River Loire and of the River Saône, in the south of Burgundy. Among these lithic series that were principally collected on the surface, three major sites help to get a better grasp of the gravettian occupations of this region: the site of La Vigne-Brun, in the Loire valley and the sites of Azé and Solutré along the Saône valley. Their industries show numerous common technotypologic points. In addition, lithotechnologic datas reveal a supply of flint raw materials not far from the site of La Vigne-Brun in the Mâcon region. These results suggest we should reconsider our views about the occupation modalities of the regional gravettian: La Vigne Brun - usually considered as an isolated site owing to the quasi absence of other gravettian sites in this part of the Loire valley -could be linked to the complex of sites in the Saône valley, and on the contrary, these sites in the Saône valley could indicate certain links to external areas.