Program > By author > Tomasso Antonin

In the northern Mediterranean basin, the dominant model favours the idea of continuous and polymorphic cultural processes from the Pleistocene to the Holocene, and the Early Mesolithic of the Liguro-Provençal region is usually considered arising from the Epigravettian traditions. The reality and significance of this process is nonetheless still under debate. A clear reading of this historical process appears hindered by the reduced number of sites and the scarcity of archaeological data in the region, in contrast to the major neighbouring areas (e.g. south-western France or north-eastern Italy). Moreover, archaeological assemblages from the Liguro-Provençal zone reveal a remarkable heterogeneity, but multiple explanatory factors - environmental, functional and/or cultural - remain to be explored.

The recent excavations at La Baume de Monthiver (Vallée du Jabron, Var), brings new data on the Early Mesolithic technical and subsistence practices, as well as on the mobility of the human groups, and the evolution of the local environmental conditions of a mid-mountain settlements in the pre-alpine territories. The human occupations of La Baume de Monthiver (1) show the absence of geometrical armatures, a recurrent feature in regional mesolithic assemblages; (2) offer information on the presence of marine shell ornaments (Columbella rustica) pointing to links between the coastline and this mid-mountain valley; (3) highlight subsistence strategies (fauna and carp remains) indicating a diversified collecting in the environment close to the site and (4) are related to an environmental evolution marked by the climatic event 8.2.

Here we will draw up a general assessment of the multidisciplinary study of the level M-B' of La Baume de Monthiver and proposes interpretative avenues within the wider context of the Mediterranean Mesolithic.