The Mesolithic in the South of France: a critical analysis

1953 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. A. Smith

At the time when the type-sites of the Dordogne were being explored French archaeologists were equally active further south in their country. From caves and surface sites in the Mediterranean provinces local landowners, doctors and clergy were collecting material which not only matched most of the palaeolithic tool forms being distinguished in the south-west of France, but was later to provide Déchelette with many of his illustrations for the neolithic and metal ages. It was not uncommon for flints, pottery and metal all to come from the same cave.These old collections, or such of them as can be traced, are the basis of what is known about the prehistory of the south of France. Unfortunately, much of the material has come down to us with very little information, apart from provenance, and although some details of excavation were carefully recorded it seems generally to have been considered that plans of caves were more informative than sections through them.Topographically the south of France consists largely of a narrow alluvial plain, stretching right round the Gulf of Lions between the Italian and Spanish frontiers and broadening out in the delta of the Rhône. Today the region is distinguished from the rest of France by its Mediterranean climate. East of the Rhône, in Provence, this coastal climate is soon modified to the north by the high mountains, but in the old province of Languedoc between the Rhône and the Pyrenees the typical Mediterranean vegetation is carried up onto the rocky limestone plateau, or Garrigue, until it reaches the barren Causses of the Massif Central. In France, the western limit of this climatic zone falls between Carcassonne and Toulouse, but eastward and to the south the Mediterranean conditions continue, so that the south French plain forms a climatic unit with the coastlands of Italy and Spain.This plain, shut in to the north by high land, is most easily accessible from the sea or coastwise from adjacent Mediterranean countries. Easy communication with the rest of France is confined to the great river valleys of the Rhône and Aude which cut through the mountains to the north and west.

1916 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 179-190 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. E. Bodkin ◽  
L. D. Cleare

British Guiana lies between the latitudes 0·41′ N. (source of the Essequebo River) and 8° 33′ 22″ N. (Punta Playa), has a depth from north to south of about 500 miles, a seaboard of about 270 miles trending in a south-easterly direction, and occupies in the north-east of South America an area approximately equal in extent to Great Britain. It is bounded on the north by the Atlantic Ocean, on the east by Surinam or Dutch Guiana, on the south and south-west by Brazil, and on the west by Venezuela.The Colony may be divided broadly into three belts. The northern one consists of a low-lying flat and swampy belt of marine alluvium—the coastal region. This rises gradually from the seaboard and extends inland for a distance varying from 5 to 49 miles. It is succeeded by a broader and slightly elevated tract of country of sandy and clayey soils. This belt is generally undulating, and is traversed in places by sand-dunes rising from 50 to 180 ft. above sea-level. The more elevated portion of the Colony lies to the southward of the above-mentioned regions. It rises gradually to the south-west, between the river valleys, which are in many parts swampy, and contains three principal mountain ranges, several irregularly distributed smaller ranges, and in the southern and eastern parts numerous isolated hills and mountains. The eastern portion is almost entirely forest-clad, but on the south-western side there is an extensive area of flat grass-clad savannah land elevated about 300 feet above sea-level.


1945 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
pp. 72-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
John L. Myres

The North Range of Cyprus is a long, narrow, rugged ridge of hard steeply-inclined limestones, flanked southwards by coarse grits and sandstones, also steeply-inclined. On both sides of the range the lower slopes consist of later and softer limestones and marls, which overlie the rocks of the range unconformably, and have not been much disturbed since they were formed. The contrast is very marked between (1) the rugged peaks and spurs of the mountains, which run up, barren or sparsely forested, to more than 3000 feet, with passes as low as 1000 feet; (2) the dry brown barren ‘hummocks’ of the grits and sands, and (3) the light soil and great local fertility of the recent lowlands. This fertility depends, however, directly on the water supply; and as the greater part of the rainfall of Cyprus seems to come up from the south-west, and is liable to be intercepted by the hills, the north coast depends mainly on the discharge of the hill rainfall in springs, which break out at intervals along the upper margin of the later limestones, particularly if they are marly, and cut steep-sided torrent beds which widen seawards, and have formed alluvial coast deposits here and there.


1932 ◽  
Vol 69 (5) ◽  
pp. 209-233 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. D. Osborne

THE Carlingford-Barnave district falls within the boundaries of Sheet 71 of the Ordnance Survey of Ireland, and forms part of a broad promontory lying between Carlingford Lough on the north-east and Dundalk Bay on the south-west. The greater part of this promontory is made up of an igneous complex of Tertiary age which has invaded the Silurian slates and quartzites and the Carboniferous Limestone Series. This complex has not yet been investigated in detail, but for the purposes of the present paper certain references to it are necessary, and these are made below. The prevalence of hybrid-relations and contamination-effects between the basic and acid igneous rocks of the region is a very marked feature, and because of this it has been difficult at times to decide which types have been responsible for the various stages of the metamorphism.


1963 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
pp. 99-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. J. Wainwright

The distribution of Mesolithic sites in Wales is controlled to a great extent by the terrain, for physiographically, Wales is a highland block defined on three sides by the sea and for the greater part of the fourth side by a sharp break of slope. Geologically the Principality is composed almost entirely of Palaeozoic rocks, of which the 600-foot contour encloses more than three quarters of the total area. There are extensive regions above 1,500 feet and 2,000 feet and in the north the peaks of Snowdonia and Cader Idris rise to 3,560 feet and 2,929 feet respectively. Indeed North Wales consists of an inhospitable highland massif, skirted by a lowland plateau and cut deeply by river valleys, providing only limited areas for settlement. The hills and mountains of Snowdonia with their extension at lower altitudes into the Lleyn Peninsula, and the ranges of Moelwyn, Manod Mawr, Arenig Fach and Cader Idris, are discouraging obstacles to penetration, save for a short distance along the river valleys. To the east of these peaks are extensive tracts of upland plateau dissected by rivers, bounded on the west by the vale of the river Conway and cleft by the Vale of Clwyd. To the east of this valley lies the Clwydian Range and further again to the east these uplands descend with milder contours to the Cheshire and Shropshire plains.To the south the district merges into the uplands of Central Wales, which are continuous until they are replaced by the lowland belt of South Wales.


1907 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Tanner Hewlett ◽  
George S. Barton

In view of the importance of a pure milk supply, we considered that it might be of interest to examine chemically, microscopically, and bacteriologically, a number of specimens of milk coming into the Metropolis for which purpose we decided to select samples from the various counties, the milk of which is consigned to London. We found that milk so consigned comes from about twenty-six counties extending from Derby in the North, to Hampshire and Devonshire in the South and South-West, and from Hereford in the West, to Norfolk in the East.


Phytotaxa ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 522 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-37
Author(s):  
DANIEL F. BRUNTON ◽  
MICHAEL GARRETT ◽  
PAUL C. SOKOLOFF ◽  
GINTARAS KANTVILAS

Isoetes jarmaniae sp. nov. is described as a new lycophyte endemic to Tasmania, Australia, where it is confined to peat-bound karstic wetlands in several river valleys in the south-west wilderness. While seemingly morphologically closest to I. drummondii, this quillwort has features that are globally uncommon in Isoetes and unknown in other Australasian taxa. Most notable are its markedly flattened, strongly recurved leaves and disproportionately large sporangium ligules that are more suggestive of South American than Australian taxa. As well, the exceptionally thin and wide (alate) megaspore equatorial ridge is swollen at suture intersections, presenting a slightly triangular shape suggestive of the Indian taxon I. udupiensis. The microspores of I. jarmaniae exhibit exceptionally, perhaps uniquely, fine-papillate ornamentation. An original key placing I. jarmaniae in context with the other Tasmanian Isoetes species is provided. This diminutive, apparently diploid species is evidently maintaining a self-sustaining population within a regionally unique habitat and small geographic range.


1954 ◽  
Vol 49 ◽  
pp. 267-291
Author(s):  
Elizabeth B. Wace

The Cyclopean Terrace Building lies to the north-west of the Lion Gate on the northern end of the Panagia Ridge and faces almost due west across the valley of the Kephissos and modern main road from Corinth to Argos. It lies just below the 200 m. contour line, and one terrace below the houses excavated in 1950–51 by Dr. Papadimitriou and Mr. Petsas to the east at the same end of the ridge. The area contains a complex of buildings, both successive and contemporary, and in view of the discovery of structures both to the south-west and, by the Greek Archaeological Service, to the north-east it is likely that this whole slope was covered by a portion of the outer town of Mycenae. This report will deal only with the structure to which the name Cyclopean Terrace Building was originally given, the so-called ‘North Megaron’, supported by the heavy main terrace wall.The excavation of this structure was begun in 1923. The main terrace wall was cleared and two L.H. IIIC burials discovered in the top of the fill in the south room. In 1950 it was decided to attempt to clear this building entirely in an endeavour to find out its date and purpose. The clearing was not, however, substantially completed until the close of the 1953 excavation season, and this report presents the available evidence for the date as determined by the pottery found beneath the building; the purpose is still a matter for study, though various tentative conclusions can be put forward.


1929 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 225-231
Author(s):  
George N. Wolcott

The map of South America shows Peru as a rather long, narrow country, broadening at the north, and presumably tropical in climate judging by its position just south of the Equator, but with high mountains close to the coast. But it does not show the cold ocean current coming from the south—the Humboldt Current—or ar least we are not accustomed to noticing such presumably minor features, even though in the case of Peru, this is equal in importance with the mountains in determining the climate of the country and every factor that the climate may affect.


Starinar ◽  
2013 ◽  
pp. 269-286
Author(s):  
Perica Spehar ◽  
Natasa Miladinovic-Radmilovic ◽  
Sonja Stamenkovic

In 2012, in the village Davidovac situated in south Serbia, 9.5 km south-west from Vranje, archaeological investigations were conducted on the site Crkviste. The remains of the smaller bronze-age settlement were discovered, above which a late antique horizon was later formed. Apart from modest remains of a bronze-age house and pits, a late antique necropolis was also excavated, of which two vaulted tombs and nine graves were inspected during this campaign. During the excavation of the northern sector of the site Davidovac-Crkviste the north-eastern periphery of the necropolis is detected. Graves 1-3, 5 and 6 are situated on the north?eastern borderline of necropolis, while the position of the tombs and the remaining four graves (4, 7-9) in their vicinity point that the necropolis was further spreading to the west and to the south?west, occupying the mount on which the church of St. George and modern graveyard are situated nowadays. All graves are oriented in the direction SW-NE, with the deviance between 3? and 17?, in four cases toward the south and in seven cases toward the north, while the largest part of those deviations is between 3? and 8?. Few small finds from the layer above the graves can in some way enable the determination of their dating. Those are two roman coins, one from the reign of emperor Valens (364-378), as well as the fibula of the type Viminacium-Novae which is chronologically tied to a longer period from the middle of the 5th to the middle of the 6th century, although there are some geographically close analogies dated to the end of the 4th or the beginning of the 5th century. Analogies for the tombs from Davidovac can be found on numerous sites, like in Sirmium as well as in Macvanska Mitrovica, where they are dated to the 4th-5th century. Similar situation was detected in Viminacium, former capital of the roman province of Upper Moesia. In ancient Naissus, on the site of Jagodin Mala, simple rectangular tombs were distributed in rows, while the complex painted tombs with Christian motifs were also found and dated by the coins to the period from the 4th to the 6th century. Also, in Kolovrat near Prijepolje simple vaulted tombs with walled dromos were excavated. During the excavations on the nearby site Davidovac-Gradiste, 39 graves of type Mala Kopasnica-Sase dated to the 2nd-3rd century were found, as well as 67 cist graves, which were dated by the coins of Constantius II, jewellery and buckles to the second half of the 4th or the first half of the 5th century. Based on all above mentioned it can be concluded that during the period from the 2nd to the 6th century in this area existed a roman and late antique settlement and several necropolises, formed along an important ancient road Via militaris, traced at the length of over 130 m in the direction NE-SW. Data gained with the anthropological analyses of 10 skeletons from the site Davidovac-Crkviste don't give enough information for a conclusion about the paleo-demographical structure of the population that lived here during late antiquity. Important results about the paleo-pathological changes, which do not occur often on archaeological sites, as well as the clearer picture about this population in total, will be acquired after the osteological material from the site Davidovac-Gradiste is statistically analysed.


1981 ◽  
Vol 106 ◽  
pp. 69-75
Author(s):  
I Parsons

A series of smal! volcanic centres cut Ordovician turbidites of Formation A in the southem part of Johannes V. Jensen Land between Midtkap and Frigg Fjord (Map 2). Their general location and main rock types were described by Soper et al. (1980) and their nomenclature is adopted here for fig. 22 with the addition of the small pipe B2. A further small intrusion, south-west of Frigg Fjord, was described by Pedersen (1980). The centres lie 5-10 km south of, and parallel to, the important Harder Fjord fault zone (fig. 22) which traverses the southern part of the North Greenland fold belt and shows substantial downthrow to the south (Higgins et al., this report).


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