The Palaeolithic of the Jabron Valley

The Jabron valley is a geomorphological and landscape entity of the Southern Pre-Alps. This valley, 5 km long, forms like an island entity in the steep environment of the Verdon canyon. The Jabron valley was discovered in 2012 following several archaeological and geological prospecting campaigns. The discovery of a site dating from the Upper Palaeolithic at Les Prés de Laure, upstream from the valley, quickly made it possible to measure the richness of this cultural and natural environment. Since 2013, the excavation of Les Prés de Laure has revealed a completely new archaeological heritage, with several layers of human occupation preserved through low-energy alluvial sedimentation. The excavation of the Prés de Laure is coupled each year with satellite operations that have led to several geomorphological transects and several archaeological surveys, both in the open air (the Moulin Neuf, Les Condamines) and in shelter (La Baume de Monthiver). The research project mobilizes specialists from all disciplines and involves the exploration of a history of more than 50,000 years, that of a place that man has appropriated and where he has succeeded one another.

Participate in the operation

The excavation takes place every year during the months of July and/or August. Participation of 4 weeks. Please send a short letter and a cv here. The operational calendar 2020 could be disrupted by the sanitary instructions in force.

Bibliography

Porraz Guillaume, Antonin Tomasso, Carlo Mologni, Benjamin Audiard, Leïla Hoareau, Marie-Anne Julien, Marco Padovan, Giorgia Sardelli, Patrick Simon, Louise Purdue "End of the Pleistocene and beginning of the Holocene in the Jabron Valley (Var, France): human occupations at the Baume de Monthiver." Bulletin of the French Prehistoric Society 115.2 (2018): 390-393

Tomasso Antonin, Veerle Rots, Louise Purdue, Sylvie Beyries, Mike Buckley, Carole Cheval, Dries Cnuts, Justin Coppe, Marie-Anne Julien, Michel Grenet, Christian Lepers, Mondher M'hamdi, Patrick Simon, Sabine Sorin, Guillaume Porraz "Gravettian weaponry: 23,500-year-old evidence of a composite barbed point from Les Prés de Laure (France). "Journal of Archaeological Science 100 (2018): 158-175.

Porraz Guillaume, Antonin Tomasso, Louise Purdue. "Les Prés-de-Laure, an early Upper Paleolithic site on the terraces of the middle Jabron valley (Var, France)." Bulletin of the French Prehistoric Society 111.1 (2014): 135-138.