Program > By author > Deseine Alexandre

In 2018, an archaeological survey in Ensisheim-Reguisheim, Alsace (France) uncovered several Mesolithic concentrations. Over an area of 2.5 hectares, 18 locus and 13 combustion structures were discovered. Concentrations were located on both side of a paleochannel that was still active for part of the year during the Mesolithic. Floods of the Ill River, to which this paleochannel was probably connected, contributed to the rapid burial of the remains by the addition of fine alluvials.

Concentrations delivered small sets, lithic industries and burnt fauna remains spread over restricted areas. The combustion structures are located within or outside the concentrations and come in the form of heated pebbles more or less arranged.

Lithic industries are homogeneous. The composition of the microlithic corpus allows the attribution of 5 concentrations to the Early Mesolithic and 13 to the Late Mesolithic. A single locus delivers stratified diachronic occupations. Analysis of the lithic industries of the Early and Late Mesolithic industries are currently under way. The technological study of the lithic industries of the Late Mesolithic is part of a doctoral thesis at the University of Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne. This work highlights two phases of site occupation, characterized on typological, technological and petrographic bases. This will be the heart of our presentation of the discoveries made during a preventive excavation carried out between September 2019 and February 2020 on an adjacent plot.