Le site de plein air de Peyre Blanque (Fabas, Ariège): un jalon original du Magdalénien dans le Sud-Ouest de la France

Peyre Blanque is an important newly-discovered open-air site in the foothills of the French Central Pyrenees (Ariège), which is described in this article. It was discovered in 2006 within the framework of a long-term open-air survey project, although it is not located in one of the hundreds of ploughed fields that have now been surveyed. These fields have yielded thousands of Palaeolithic artefacts, attesting to a much greater presence of prehistoric peoples in this region than the previous cave excavations might have indicated. Peyre Blanque is instead located on the crest of a sandy limestone ridge where the archaeological deposits have been well-preserved within the structural geological setting. That is, an underlying set of carbonate-cemented sandstone/ limestone bars have apparently trapped the archaeological materials, preventing downslope erosion despite being at about 505 metres on the top of the ridge. Beginning with an evaluative season in 2007, seven field seasons of excavation have been undertaken leading to an exposure (to date) of over 80 square metres, with an extent of archaeological deposits along the ridge that is likely to be around 1500 square metres. Stratigraphically, the archaeological materials lie in the upper soil horizons of a deeply-weathered carbonate-cemented sandstone. The archaeological level lies about 25-40 cm below the current surface, though taphonomic processes have led to the presence of some archaeological materials throughout the A horizon. Bioturbation, largely through worms and other burrowing organisms, led to artefacts left on the surface in prehistory becoming buried today. Organic preservation is almost non-existent, at least so far, but more than 11,000 chert artefacts have been recovered. These include large nuclei, smaller laminar cores, and an assemblage across the site dominated by flakes (83%) knapped primarily from a local novaculite chert derived from a source about 300 metres downslope. There is much evidence for in situ knapping activities and, unlike assemblages from the regional cave and shelter sites, the full chaîne opératoire is in evidence at Peyre Blanque. However, the assemblage also comprises a variety of raw materials, including some that originate from about 10 km away, as well as from sources that are up to 150 km to the west and from Dordogne sources 250 km to the north. The details of the assemblage, which is notably original in its composition, are a primary focus of this article. Typo-technologically, this assemblage cannot be understood within the framework of the regional Magdalenian as known to date. Rather, the presence of scalene triangles and carinated scrapers in particular evoke resemblances to dated assemblages from both the Languedoc and also the Cantabrian regions, and shows the closest affinity to what might best be described as an early Middle Magdalenian. The chronometric dates obtained so far are from single-grain Optically-Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) analyses. Due to bioturbation, the dates returned vary by thousands of years. Radiocarbon dating has not been successful, though it could be attempted in the future if suitable material is recovered from a reliable context. Despite the presence of charcoal throughout the site, most of it has been dispersed and contaminated, perhaps by standing water, which is quite apparent in the sediment history, and/ or other processes, and much of it is probably the result of both prehistoric and historically-known burning events. Besides being a unique open-air site in the region, especially for its preservation and that it is being excavated with contemporary methods and techniques, Peyre Blanque is yielding at least two other remarkable materials. First, nearly 150 different pieces of varied pigments, ranging from oranges, reds, blacks, and even a purple, have been recovered, and are being analysed for compositional characteristics. These are primarily various forms of manganese and haematite, some of which bear use traces. In addition, some pigment-processing stones in quartzite were imported to the site and used there. The pigment analyses are part of a comparative study of Peyre Blanque pigments with those on the cave wall of the nearby (12 km distant) site of Marsoulas, with which other affinities are of note. Secondly, the past few excavation seasons have revealed a construction of stones which, although it is not yet fully excavated, so far extends at least nine metres east– west oriented roughly parallel to the crest of the ridge. This appears to be comprised of more than one construction event and feature, and is made from a variety of sandstone and limestone blocks, but it adds a very different form to our more global understanding of Magdalenian ‘ built environments’ since it is not a pavement, has no readily-identifiable hearth structures, nor does it appear to have circular ‘ hut’ structures. More than 1000 artefacts have been recovered to date from this structure area ; as an assemblage they are consistent with the types of lithics recovered from elsewhere across the site. With excavations in three major areas of the site (designated Western, Central and Eastern), there are spatial differences (with the stone structure characterizing the eastern area), but also consistencies in the predominance of flakes (> 80%), the more-or-less equal proportion of blades and bladelets, the presence of a variety of cores (ranging from notably large ones to bladelet cores), and the near-exclusive spatial distribution of burins and scrapers, suggesting that the area with the scrapers most likely attests to hide working.Découvert dans le cadre d’une prospection thématique sur les sites de plein air, le gisement de Peyre Blanque est un des rares exemples d’occupation à l’air libre du Magdalénien dans les Pyrénées. Nonobstant sa localisation au sommet d’une crête, le site apparaît remarquablement bien conservé, à l’exception toutefois des vestiges organiques en raison de l’acidité du sol. Estimé à plusieurs centaines de mètres carrés, le gisement a livré une industrie lithique variée et résolument originale dans le cadre pyrénéen, marquée notamment par l’association de débitages lamellaires de types carénés avec de nombreux triangles scalènes, le tout accompagnant un fonds commun plus typique du Magdalénien régional. Sur la base de comparaisons typotechnologiques surtout avec des gisements lointains (Sud-Ouest de la France et Espagne), cette industrie est rapportée à une phase plutôt ancienne du Magdalénien moyen, peut-être centrée sur le XIXe millénaire BP en chronologie calibrée, et inconnue jusqu’alors dans les Pyrénées centrales. D’un point de vue fonctionnel, le site est interprété comme un lieu d’activités multiples et organisées spatialement. On peut notamment citer la production d’équipements lithiques, par le biais de chaînes opératoires lamino-lamellaires distinctes et un débitage autonome d’éclats, ainsi que le travail des peaux fraîches, déduit de la présence d’un nombre singulier de racloirs et de larges éclats plus ou moins retouchés. Le site fut également un rare lieu de collecte et de traitement des colorants naturels, lesquels comptent à ce jour plusieurs centaines d’échantillons de composition et coloration très variées. Sans doute associée à cette activité, on trouve en particulier une enclume dont le contour naturellement zoomorphe a été probablement accentué. Par ailleurs, un aménagement de l’espace à vocation vraisemblablement domestique a été mis au jour, lui-aussi visiblement bien conservé, et dont les dimensions et la complexité architecturale sont tout à fait remarquables à l’échelle du Paléolithique supérieur européen. Cet article se veut être une présentation générale du site, mettant en particulier l’accent sur l’assemblage lithique.Lacombe Sébastien, Sterling Kathleen, Wright Conkey Margaret, Dietrich William. Le site de plein air de Peyre Blanque (Fabas, Ariège): un jalon original du Magdalénien dans le Sud-Ouest de la France. In: Bulletin de la Société préhistorique française, tome 112, n°2, 2015. pp. 235-268