Overview of the Early Middle Palaeolithic Site of Therdonne, Northern France
Résumé
At the end of the OIS 7, towards 170-190 ky BP (178 +/- 11 ky BP by TL), Prehistorics came to settle down at the foot of the tertiary hillside to Therdonne (Oise, France). Loacated at only four kilometers of the recent Middle Palaeolithic site of Beauvais "La Justice", Therdonne’s site offers the same advantages concerning the installation of middle palaeolithic groups. The excavation leaded in 1999 delivered an archaeological layer (N3), in an exceptional state of preservation. This communication purpose is to present an overview of the occupation N3. The context of the discovery and the excavation will be approached, as well as the chronostratigraphic frame of the site, the first results concerning the lithic industry analyses and hearths. This site becomes integrated into the poor archaeological frame in discoveries of the early Middle Paleolithic, making the N3 occupation one of the rare saalian evidences well dated to the northern France.