The rockshelter of Château-d'OEx: pedosedimentary record of human occupations in the Swiss Prealps from the Late Glacial to the Mid-Holocene
- Autores: Pierre Crotti, Michel Guélat, Jérôme Bullinger, Gervaise Pignat
- Localización: Preistoria alpina, ISSN 0393-0157, Nº. 48, 2016, págs. 21-31
- Idioma: inglés
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Resumen
Situated at an altitude of 1180 m a.s.l., the rockshelter of Château-d�OEx «Sciernes-Picats» is a calcareous block emerging from an alluvial fan. Geoarchaeological investigations show that the lower part of the sedimentary sequence is the result of runoff and frost activity typical of the Bølling-Allerød interstadial. These clastic fining-upward sediments contain at the top the oldest archaeological layer, dated to 11,000 cal BC and characterised by Azilian points. After a sedimentary break during the Younger Dryas, the overlying layer is marked by the effects of cold climate conditions at the beginning of the Holocene. Abundant combustion residues characterize this occupation related to the Late Epigravettian and dated to 9,700/9,500 cal BC. Then fragmentation of the block occurred again and the vegetation gradually colonised the site. Further occupation layers characterised by anthropogenic components belong to the Early Mesolithic. Enlarging of the block fractures by dissolution caused deposition of loamy sediment and collapsing of boulders in the filling. Afterwards, runoff resumed and an important Late Mesolithic occupation dated to 6,000 cal BC took place.
