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Dans cet article, nous proposons un bilan des quelques sites européens permettant de discuter de l’apparition de l’Acheuléen en Europe. Les plus anciennes traces d’occupations en Europe, sans biface et principalement localisées dans le sud, sont tardives, vers 1,5-1,4 Ma, tandis que les premiers indices de la production de bifaces sont observables au Levant dès 1,4 Ma. En Europe de l’Ouest, on relève quelques indices sporadiques à partir de 900 ka avant la multiplication de bifaces à la technologie déjà élaborée, autour de 700 ka. Trois sites en France et en Italie suggèrent une expansion rapide de ce techno-complexe dans toute l’Europe occidentale dès 700-650 ka, quel que soit le climat. La diversité des stratégies peut être due aux arrivées successives de différents hominidés, avec ou sans extinction, apportant et diffusant de nouvelles idées, traditions et savoir-faire et s’adaptant à de nouveaux environnements. Au vu des données archéologiques dont nous disposons, nous retenons l’hypothèse d’une « introduction » de nouveaux comportements, qui donne l’image d’une « transition abrupte » bien qu’elle se soit faite dans le temps long. In this article, we provide a review of the few European sites where the Acheulean appears in Europe. The oldest traces of occupation in Europe, without bifaces and mainly located in the south, are late, around 1.5-1.4 Ma, while the first signs of biface production can be observed in the Levant as early as 1.4 Ma. In Western Europe, there are sporadic evidence from 900 ka before the multiplication of bifaces with already developed technology, at around 700 ka. Three sites in France and Italy suggest a rapid expansion of this techno-complex throughout Western Europe from 700-650 ka, whatever the climate. The diversity of strategies may be due to the successive arrivals of different hominins, with or without extinction, bringing and spreading new ideas, traditions and expertise and adapting to new environments. In view of the archaeological data available to us, we adopt the hypothesis of an "introduction" of new behaviors, which gives the image of an "abrupt transition", although it took place over a long period.

International audience; Notarchirico (Southern Italy) has yielded the earliest evidence of Acheulean settlement in Italy and four older occupation levels have recently been unearthed, including one with bifaces, extending the roots of the Acheulean in Italy even further back in time. New 40Ar/39Ar on tephras and ESR dates on bleached quartz securely and accurately place these occupations between 695 and 670 ka (MIS 17), penecontemporaneous with the Moulin-Quignon and la Noira sites (France). These new data demonstrate a very rapid expansion of shared traditions over Western Europe during a period of highly variable climatic conditions, including interglacial and glacial episodes, between 670 and 650 (i.e., MIS17/MIS16 transition). The diversity of tools and activities observed in these three sites shows that Western Europe was populated by adaptable hominins during this time. These conclusions question the existence of refuge areas during intense glacial stages and raise questions concerning understudied migration pathways, such as the Sicilian route.

International audience; The stratigraphical complex preserved at the site of Menez–Dregan I (Brittany, France) displays an alternating sequence of 17 occupation levels and of 4 marine deposits, between ca. 450 and 150,000 years (stratigraphical units 9a and 3b). The lithic industry retrieved at the site is extremely abundant, with more than 153,000 artefacts over 3 cm in length, as well as millions of knapping debris, and corresponds to a regional facies of the Acheulean, with heavy-duty tools essentially represented by choppers, as well as a few handaxes and cleavers. This paper presents a first synthesis of the data produced for almost 30 years on the site of Menez–Dregan I. The typological study of the entire lithic collection is now complete and allows us to assess the different human occupations that occurred at this site during the Lower Palaeolithic.; Le complexe stratigraphique conservé à Menez-Dregan I (Bretagne, France) présente une alternance de 17 niveaux d’occupation et de 4 dépôts marins, entre environ 450 et 300 000 ans (US 9a et 3b). L’industrie lithique retrouvée sur le site est extrêmement riche (plus de 153 000 artefacts supérieurs à 3 cm de longueur, ainsi que des millions de débris de taille), et correspond à un faciès régional de l’Acheuléen, dont le macro-outillage est essentiellement représenté par des choppers, ainsi que par quelques bifaces et hachereaux. Cet article présente une première synthèse des données produites depuis presque 30 ans sur le site de Menez-Dregan I. L’étude typologique de l’ensemble de la collection lithique est à présent achevée, et permet de faire le point sur les différentes occupations humaines qui se sont succédé sur ce site au cours du Paléolithique inférieur.

La plage du Havre est connue pour receler un site acheuléen, la « station Romain », et des « ateliers clactoniens ». Celle-ci a constitué le premier gisement du Paléolithique ancien découvert sous les eaux marines (1883). La révision de l’ensemble des données montre que l’immense majorité des objets « clactoniens » résulte du façonnage de pavés et moellons de construction, datables du Moyen Âge jusqu’à la fin du XIXe siècle. Les « ateliers clactoniens » du Havre ne doivent donc plus être cités comme un exemple d’occupations du Paléolithique ancien. The “Clactonian” on the beaches of Le Havre and Sainte-Adresse (Seine-Maritime) Le Havre’s beach is known for housing an Achulean site, the “Station Romain”, and some “Clactonian workshops”. It was the first Lower Paleolithic site to have been discovered under the sea (1883). The review of the full set of data reveals that the immense majority of the Clactonian objects have originated from the shaping of cobblestones and construction stones, which can be dated from the Middle Ages up to the end of the 19th Century. Therefore, Le Havre’s Clactonian workshops must no longer be referred to as an example of early Paleolithic occupation.

L’Algérie nord-orientale est connue pour avoir livré des traces importantes d’un peuplement paléolithique ancien et inférieur. Les sites d’In-Hanech près de la ville de Sétif (Arambourg 1949 ; Sahnouni 1985) et du plateau de Mansourah à Constantine (Camps 1964, 1974) constituent en effet autant de preuves et de jalons de cette occupation humaine. La région de N’gaous, près de Batna, a offert une autre opportunité d’installation aux groupes préhistoriques comme en témoigne la présence de plusieurs sites, notamment du Paléolithique inférieur, scellés dans des dépôts de sources. L’un d’entre eux, Kef Sefiane, aux assemblages lithiques sans caractères originaux, induit cependant par son contexte sédimentaire et son agencement dans l’espace de nouvelles perspectives sur le plan paléo-environnemental et surtout sur celui du rapport de l’homme à son milieu. Ainsi, les fouilles menées sur ce site acheuléen ont permis le dégagement d’un appareillage à galets, dont les spécificités de morphologie et d’agencement permettent d’envisager son aménagement par l’homme. North-eastern Algeria is known to have delivered important traces of Early and Lower Palaeolithic frequentation. The sites of In-Hanech, near the city of Sétif (Arambourg 1949; Sahnouni 1985), and those of the Mansourah plateau at Constantine (Camps 1974) are indeed many proofs of this human occupation. The N’gaous region, near Batna, has offered another settlement opportunity for prehistoric groups, as evidenced by the presence of several sites, in particular from the Lower Palaeolithic, sealed in deposits of sources. The sedimentary context and spatial organization of the archaeological site of Kef Sefiane, whose lithic industries are without any peculiar characteristics, yet induce new perspectives on palaeo-environmental issues, and especially on the relationship of man to his environment. Thus, the excavations on this Acheulean site have allowed the finding of a pebble structure, the morphology and layout specificities of which allow to guess a human origin.

International audience; The Cueva del Angel archaeological site is an open-air sedimentary sequence, remnant of a collapsed cave and part of a karst complex. The faunal assemblage dominated by Equus ferus, large bovids and cervids has been subjected to intense anthropic actions reflecting selective predation. The fauna may be correlated with European faunistic associations of the end of the Middle Pleistocene to the beginning of the Upper Pleistocene. The Cueva del Angel lithic assemblage (dominated by non-modified flakes and abundant retouched tools with the presence of 46 handaxes) appears to fit well within the regional diversity of a well developed non-Levallois final Acheulean industry. A preliminary 230Th/234U age estimate, the review of the lithic assemblage and faunal evidence would favour a chronological positioning of the site in a period stretching from the end of the Middle Pleistocene to the beginning of the Upper Pleistocene (MIS 11-MIS 5). The Acheulean lithic assemblage found at the Cueva del Angel fits very well with the hypothesis of a continuation of Acheulean cultural traditions in the site, distinct from the contemporaneous uniquely Mousterian complexes witnessed in other parts of the Iberian Peninsula, and Western Europe.

International audience; For a long time, the establishment of the chronology of Acheulian settlements in Western Europe was restrained by the lack of reliable dating methods. During the Middle Pleistocene, the archaeological sites in this area are generally associated with fluvio-lacustrine and karstic contexts. The main geochronological methods (e.g. K/Ar, Ar/Ar, U-series, OSL and TL) could not be applied because of a lack of suitable material for dating, or the expected ages were beyond the upper limit of the dating technique. For several years, the combination of ESR and U-series data has allowed the direct dating of palaeontological remains from the entire Middle Pleistocene period. Combined ESR/U-series dating was applied to several major Acheulian sites in Spain, Italy and France. This paper presents the dating results, their implications for the chronology of the Acheulian in Western Europe as well as the methodological limits of the ESR/U-series dating method caused by the effect of weathering on the uranium uptake into the teeth.

The tufa deposit of La Celle, located in the Upper Seine valley (Northern France), has been known for more than a century and extensive collections of shells and leaf impressions exist. These fossils led earlier authors to recognize the tufa as evidence of an old temperate phase of the Pleistocene. New studies have recently been undertaken at the site in order to reappraise its palaeontological potential and to improve its dating. Recent investigations are based on the analysis of a new series of stratified samples, coupled with a revision of material in several old collections. The new work shows that the tufa accumulated under interglacial conditions and demonstrates the progressive development of forest biotopes culminating in the climatic optimum. In the upper levels the reopening of the landscape is registered by both molluscan communities and plant remains. The tufa at La Celle has been correlated with MIS 11, based on the geomorphological context of the site, together with the occurrence of ‘the Lyrodiscus fauna’, a malacological assemblage characteristic of tufa deposits of this period in Northwest Europe. This correlation is supported by radiometric measurements (U-series and ESR/U-series,) which have produced a mean age of w400 ka. Mammalian remains are also preserved and include Macaca and Hippopotamus, which are the first well-provenanced records of these species from this region. An archaeological horizon with flint artefacts demonstrates human occupation during the interglacial optimum. Analysis of the lithic artefacts confirms their similarity with the Acheulean assemblage collected at the end of the 19th century. La Celle therefore represents one of the best dated Acheulean occupation sites in Northern France and one where the palaeoenvironmental context can be described in great detail.

Thème du numéro : Indo-Pacific Prehistory : the Chiang Mai Papers; During the Palaeolithic and especially during the Lower Palaeolithic, the prehistoric people of India were making and using two different types of lithic assemblages. To the south of the Indo-Gangetic basin their cultural remains belong to the Acheulian, characterized by the presence of Handaxes, sometimes cleavers, and by small tools on flakes or other pieces of stone. To the north of the Indo-Gangetic basin, in the Siwaliks, most of the sites yield Soanian lithic material comprising a majority of cobble tools with no typical handaxes. Flakes and small tools are rare. These two technical traditions evolved separately during the entire Palaeolithic and may be considered as two different technologies, but in both of them three processing sequences can be distinguished which are quite comprarable from one tradition to the other. The organisation of the processing sequences appears to be independent of cultural tradition. From this point of view, case studies of an Acheulian assemblage from Rajasthan and a Soanian assemblage from the western Siwaliks reveal clear similarities.; Au Paléolithique et surtout au Paléolithique inférieur, les populations préhistoriques de l'Inde fabriquaient et utilisaient deux types différents d'industrie lithique. Au sud du bassin indo-gangétique, leur vestiges culturels appartiennent à l'Acheuléen, caractérisé par la présence de bifaces, parfois de hachereaux, et par de petits outils sur éclat ou débris. La méthode de taille n'apparait pas clairement organisée. Au nord du bassin indo-gangétique, dans les Siwaliks, la plupart des sites fournissent un matériel lithique soanien, qui comprend une majorité de galets aménagés et aucun biface typique. Les éclats et petits outils sont rares. Ces deux traditions techniques, qui évoluent séparément durant tout le Paléolithique, peuvent être considérées comme des cultures différentes, mais dans chacune d'elles on distingue trois chaînes opératoires, qui sont tout à fait comparables entre les deux traditions. Si l'organisation des chaînes opératoires est indépendante des traditions culturelles, elle constitue une approche intéressante pour mettre en parallèle différents types d'industrie. De ce point de vue l'étude d'un exemple d'industrie acheuléenne du Radjasthan et d'industrie soanienne des Siwaliks occidentales révèle de nettes ressemblances

Recent field investigations in Pleistocene deposits west of Lake Natron, Tanzania, have documented two Acheulian sites containing biface-dominated tool assemblages. One of these, Kamare, a surface occurrence eroded out of post-lower Pleistocene channel deposits, is estimated to be 125,000 years old. The second site, Kipalagu, which apparently eroded out of Humbu Formation sediments, contains lower Acheulian artifacts similar to those from two sites previously excavated from within the Humbu Formation, and has been given an age estimate of approximately 1.0-1.5 Ma., De récents travaux de terrain dans les dépôts pléistocènes du lac Natron ont mis en évidence deux sites acheuléens contenant une association d'outils à bifaces dominants. L'un d'entre eux, Kamare, une surface érodée dans des dépôts de chenaux post-Pléistocène inférieur, a été estimé à 125 000 ans. Le second site, Kipalagu, apparemment érodé dans des sédiments de la formation Humbu, contient des outils de l'Acheuléen inférieur, semblables à ceux des deux sites précédemment fouillés dans la formation Humbu. Il a été daté approximativement entre 1 et 1,5 millions d'années., Mturi Amini A. The archeological sites of Lake Natron (Tanzania). Sites archéologiques du lac Natron (Tanzanie). In: Sciences Géologiques. Bulletin, tome 40, n°1-2, 1987. Lac Natron. Géologie, géochimie et paléontologie. D'un bassin évaporatique du rift est-africain. pp. 209-215.