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Grimaud JL, Gouge P, Huyghe D, Petit C, Lestel L, Eschbach D, Lemay M, Catry J, Quaisse I, Imperor A, Szewczyk L, Mordant D. Lateral river erosion impacts the preservation of Neolithic enclosures in alluvial plains. Sci Rep 2023; 13:16566. [PMID: 37783939 PMCID: PMC10545758 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-43849-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/23/2023] [Accepted: 09/29/2023] [Indexed: 10/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Situating prehistoric sites in their past environment helps us to understand their functionality and the organization of early sedentary human societies. However, this is a challenge as the natural environment constantly evolves through time and erases these constructions, especially along riverbanks, thus biasing the archaeological record. This study introduces a reassessment of the paleo-landscape evolution around the Neolithic enclosures at the Noyen-sur-Seine site based on new field observations as well as the synthesis of (un)published and new radiocarbon dating. Contrary to the initial hypothesis, our results show that the Noyen enclosures were not built along a Neolithic Seine River: the nearby channels were active in the Middle Age and Early Modern periods. Therefore, the results show that the enclosures were originally much larger: only a fraction that survived river erosion (lateral migration rates up to 2-3 m yr-1 estimated during the nineteenth century) has been preserved. Instead, an abandoned Mesolithic Seine River served as a natural delimitation of the SE part of the Neolithic enclosures. These results indicate that Neolithic enclosures in alluvial settings are often only partly preserved and that societies from that period lived farther away from active rivers than originally thought, where they were protected from floods.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jean-Louis Grimaud
- PSL University/MINES Paris/Centre de Géosciences, 35 rue St Honoré, 77305, Fontainebleau Cedex, France.
| | - Patrick Gouge
- Département de Seine-et-Marne/Centre departemental d'archéologie de la Bassée, 11 rue des Roises, 77118, Bazoches-lès-Bray, France
| | - Damien Huyghe
- PSL University/MINES Paris/Centre de Géosciences, 35 rue St Honoré, 77305, Fontainebleau Cedex, France
| | - Christophe Petit
- Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, UMR 7041 ArScAn, 6, rue Michelet, 75006, Paris, France
| | - Laurence Lestel
- Sorbonne Université, CNRS, EPHE, UMR 7619 Metis, 4 place Jussieu, 75005, Paris, France
| | - David Eschbach
- Sorbonne Université, CNRS, EPHE, UMR 7619 Metis, 4 place Jussieu, 75005, Paris, France
| | | | - Jean Catry
- PSL University/MINES Paris/Centre de Géosciences, 35 rue St Honoré, 77305, Fontainebleau Cedex, France
| | - Ibtissem Quaisse
- PSL University/MINES Paris/Centre de Géosciences, 35 rue St Honoré, 77305, Fontainebleau Cedex, France
| | - Amélie Imperor
- PSL University/MINES Paris/Centre de Géosciences, 35 rue St Honoré, 77305, Fontainebleau Cedex, France
| | - Léo Szewczyk
- PSL University/MINES Paris/Centre de Géosciences, 35 rue St Honoré, 77305, Fontainebleau Cedex, France
| | - Daniel Mordant
- Département de Seine-et-Marne/Centre departemental d'archéologie de la Bassée, 11 rue des Roises, 77118, Bazoches-lès-Bray, France
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