Artenacia

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Artenacia
Age : End Neolithic
Absolutely : 3000 to 1900 BC Chr.

expansion
West and South West France
Leitforms

Ceramic (nose-shaped vessel handle), winged and stemmed arrowheads, polished stone axes, chert daggers

The Artenacien is a cultural stage of the end Neolithic . It existed during the 3rd millennium BC. In the central west and southwest of France . The culture is characterized by its ceramics and stone tools .

history

The quarry at Artenac - type locality of Artenaciens

The Artenacien, also Artenac culture or often just Artenac , was originally defined in 1962 by Claude Burnez and Gérard Bailloud after they had carried out excavations in the Sepulkralhöhle of Artenac in the Charente department . Further subsequent excavation campaigns meanwhile allow a much better characterization of this end-Neolithic cultural stage.

General

origin

The Artenacien developed in the late Neolithic between 3000 and 1900 BC. BC ( French Néolithique final I and Néolithique final II ) - possibly from the outgoing Chasséen , which it immediately follows in the Quercy . In the Gironde littoral and in the Charente-Maritime there are stylistic echoes of the final stage of the Peu Richard culture - recognizable for example by the zigzag carvings and the dotted lines. To what extent the Loire-Dordogne culture (with its two subgroups Taizé and Vienne-Charente ) influenced the development of the Artenaciens in the rear continental area. It is likely to be a forerunner culture of the Artenaciens, which, however, in contrast to the stone industry of the Artenaciens based on cutting, was based predominantly on blades.

distribution

The culture spread in an area that stretches from western France to the northern edge of the Pyrenees . After the discovery of the Artenaciens in the valley of the Bonnieure in the Charente ( type locality ) further settlements of the culture were found in the Dordogne department , at Beauregard in the Lot department and in the Limousin . The Artenacien could even be detected as far as the foothills of the Armorican massif . The finds near Ligueil in the Indre-et-Loire department and near Fort Harrouard in the Eure-et-Loir department also represent outposts of the Artenaciens due to cultural affinities .

The core areas of the Artenac culture are thus the southern Poitou , the Angoumois , the Périgord , the Vienne , the Gironde , the Saintonge , the Vendée , the Marais Poitevin and the Deux-Sèvres . In addition, their influence extended to the middle reaches of the Loire , in the Paris basin to the Gord group ( Seine-Oise-Marne culture ), in large parts of the Central Massif and possibly even in Burgundy and the Rhône-Alpes region . A cultural exchange existed with the Civilization Saône-Rhône , with the corded ceramists of Switzerland and the Netherlands, with the beginning bell beaker culture and south of the Lot with the cultures of Ferrières and Fontbouisse in the Grands Causses as well as with the ending Véraza culture in the foothills of the Pyrenees Toulouse .

Influence of the bell beaker culture

New archaeological studies show that the Artenac culture was between 2500 and 2000 BC. BC must have been in contact with the Chalcolithic bell beaker culture. Typical of this influence are the decorations, hatching and ladder motifs on the bottom of the vase. The bell-beaker people were already processing metal and influenced the Artenac culture - which can be demonstrated by ceramic decorations. Apart from imported rare copper pearls and other metal objects from the Grands Causses and Haut-Languedoc , there was no metalworking worth mentioning within the Artenac culture. Rings, needles and awls made of copper poor in arsenic were found at the type locality, in the Grottes du Quéroy and in Saint-Séverin-sur-Boutonne .

Settlements and funeral burials

Remains of the Artenaciens have been discovered at the Dolmen Peyre-Brune near Saint-Aquilin .

In the course of the Artenaciens already existing trenches were reused and also for the burial of the dead, in addition to caves , existing megalithic systems were used. However, the culture still has its own creations, such as central settlement areas secured with earth walls, large community houses, but also smaller, scattered settlements.

The End

Since the transition from the end-Neolithic Artenac culture to the beginning of the Bronze Age (which began in central western France around 2200 BC) is still in the dark, its position in this process of cultural transition is still a mystery.

description

Ceramics

Ceramics of the Artenac culture from the 3rd millennium BC Chr.

Comparable to the majority of other Neolithic cultures, the Artenacien is primarily defined by its ceramic products. These can be divided into two broad groups - a fairly coarse commodity intended for general consumption and very fine, artistically valuable products. A distinction can be made between:

  • Flat bottom vases. Their clay mass is coarse-grained and they are undecorated. They come from a regionally limited tradition of the recent Neolithic (such as the Matignons culture / Peu Richard culture or the Seuil du Poitou group , composed of the former Vienne-Charente group and the Taizé group ).
  • Vases with a round bottom made of fine-grained clay. This also includes keel bowls and plates with characteristic ornamentation made of incised triangular or diamond patterns, often dotted or hatched and arranged in horizontal bands.

The storage vases up to one meter high and very thin-walled, ornate vases, but also complex shapes with a winding keel or small, hump-like bulges are extremely typical of the ceramics of the Artenac culture. The best distinguishing feature are undoubtedly the nose-shaped handles.

Stone tools

The stone tools of the Artenac culture, which undoubtedly reached a production peak at this stage of the end neolithic, can be characterized by the presence of piercing arrowheads as well as cutting tools , which take on rather complicated winged and stalked shapes towards the end of the culture stage. The cutting tools include leaf, cord, diamond and almond-shaped geometries. There are also polished stone axes, high quality chert daggers, perforated scrapers and geometric microliths . All these tools suggest that there was a significant intercultural barter towards the end of the Neolithic - as is illustrated very nicely by the circulation of chert blades made in the region of Le Grand-Pressigny ( Département Indre-et-Loire ).

During the Artenaciens the proven production methods and technical methods of the previous cultures are adopted. A new feature are very large blades that are used for daggers . Reductions are of great importance, whereas blade production only accounts for just under 5 percent for objects of daily use. The Kombewa method is still used for bifacial fittings. Structurally new processes relate in particular to retouching tools and armament. This can be observed above all with knife edges, which have been sharpened again as a result, as well as with back knives with a simple indentation.

The second phase of the Artenaciens from 2600 BC. Chr. Sees further innovations in stone tools. The use of the anvil to produce splintery cuts now appears for the first time - as can also be observed in the bell beaker culture. In the case of tools, there are frequent, very finely worked, perforated microsticks on a knock-off basis. The fittings retain their diversity, but the specific features are square winged arrowheads and saw blades perforated on both sides. Some sites also attest to very original, completely retouched thorns.

Temporal structure

The Artenacien can be divided into two large sections, the older Artenacien I (or Artenac 1) and the younger Artenacien II (Artenac 2). The Artenacien II can be split into two subsections - a Artenacien IIa and a Artenacien IIb , whereby in the Artenacien IIa the influence of the Bell Beaker Culture (middle phase) was noticeable. A cohabitation of the two cultures at the time of Artenaciens IIa is therefore very likely.

Dating

So far, dating for finds of the Artenaciens with the radiocarbon method yielded ages of 4400 ± 70 to 3920 ± 50 BP, ie calibrated 3100 ± 150 to 2400 ± 70 BC. Chr.

Note: Newer work shifts the beginning of the Artenaciens far back to the onset of the final stage of the Neolithic (French Néolithique final ). As a result, the culture appears as early as 3000/2900 BC. BC with the Artenacien I (Artenac 1), but the first forerunners can be as long as 3600 BC. To be traced back. The Artenacien II (Artenac 2) begins at 2600/2500 BC. The last traces of Artenaciens are made around 1900 BC. Noticeable.

Sites

In addition to the type locality Grotte d'Artenac in the Charente, the following arenas are known:

See also

literature

  • Julia Roussot-Larroque: Artenac aujourd'hui: pour une nouvelle approche de l'énéolithisation de la France . In: Revue archéologique du Center de la France . no 23, 1984, p. 135-196 .
  • Julia Roussot-Laroque: Artenac vingt ans après . Ed .: J.-P. Demoule and J. Guilaine, Le Néolithique de la France, Hommage à G. Bailloud. éd. Picard, Paris 1986, p. 391-417 .
  • Claude Burnez and Pierrick Fouéré: Les enceintes néolithiques de Diconche à Saintes (Charente-Maritime): une périodisation de l'Artenac . In: SPF . Paris 1999, p. 829 .
  • Claude Burnez: Le camp à Challignac (Charente) au IIIe millénaire av. J.-C .: un établissement complexe de la culture d'Artenac dans le center-ouest de la France . Archaeopress, Oxford 2010, p. 494 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Claude Burnez et Gérard Bailloud: Le Bronze ancien dans le Center-Ouest de la France . In: BSPF . no 59, 1962, p. 515-524 .
  2. ↑ Vincent Ard: Produire et échanger au Neolithique: traditions céramiques entre Loire et Gironde au IVe millénaire . In: Comité des travaux historiques et scientifiques . Paris 2014, p. 387 .
  3. ↑ a b c Claude Burnez: Le Néolithique et le Chalcolithique dans le Center-Ouest de la France . In: SPF . Paris 1976, p. 374 .
  4. ^ A. Villes: Sur les rapports SOM / Artenac dans le Bassin Parisien . In: Revue Archéologique de Picardie . n ° 3/4, 1985, p. 27-38 .
  5. ↑ Luc Laporte: Des premiers paysans aux premiers métallurgistes sur la façade atlantique de la France (3500-2000 av. J.-C.) . In: Association des publications chauvinoises . Chauvigny 2009, p. 810 .
  6. ^ L. Laporte: Quelques réflexions sur le Néolithique final du Center-Ouest de la France . In: Revue archéologique de l'Ouest . tape 13 , 1996, pp. 51-74 .
  7. ↑ Julia Roussot-Larroque: Artenac aujourd'hui: pour une nouvelle approche de l'énéolithisation de la France . In: Revue archéologique du Center de la France . no 23, 1984, p. 135-196 .
  8. ↑ Claude Burnez: Le camp à Challignac (Charente) au IIIe millénaire av. J.-C .: un établissement complexe de la culture d'Artenac dans le center-ouest de la France . Archaeopress, Oxford 2010, p. 494 .
  9. ↑ a b c Claude Burnez and Pierrick Fouéré: Les enceintes néolithiques de Diconche à Saintes (Charente-Maritime): une périodisation de l'Artenac . In: SPF . Paris 1999, p. 829 .
  10. ↑ J.-N. Guyodo: Les assemblages lithiques des groupes néolithiques sur le Massif armoricain et ses marges (doctoral thesis) . Université de Rennes I, 2001, p. 466 .
  11. ↑ Claude Burnez: XVIII. L'évolution de l'Artenac . In: Mémoire SPF XXV - Mémoire APC XV . Vol. 1, 1999, pp. 359 .
  12. ↑ Pierrick Fouéré and Marie-Hélène Dias-Meirinho: Les Industries lithiques taillées of IVe et IIIe millénaires dans le Center-Ouest et le Sud-Ouest de la France . In: Colloque international 7-9 avril 2005 . Bar International Series 1884, Toulouse 2008, p. 231-258 .
  13. ↑ Jean-Pierre Pautreau: Le grand batiment d'Antran (Vienne): une nouvelle attribution chronologique . In: Bulletin de la Société Préhistorique Française . Tome 91, No. 6, 1994, pp. 418-419 .
  14. ↑ J.-P. Pautreau: Datations radiocarbone de l'Artenac du Camp Allaric à Aslonnes . In: Bull. De la Soc. Prehist. Française . tape 72 , 1975, pp. 24-25 .
  15. ^ A. Galan: La grotte de Marsa (Beauregard, Lot), Stratigraphie du Bronze . In: Gallia Préhist. tape 4 , 1961, pp. 91-143 .
  16. ^ E. Patte: Quelques sépultures du Poitou, you Mésolithique au Bronze moyen . In: Gallia Préhist. tape 14 , 1971, p. 139-244 .
  17. ↑ J.-M. Bouchet, C. Burnez and P. Fouéré P .: La Grande Pigouille à Belluire (Charente maritime) . In: Bulletin de la Société Préhistorique Française . t. 90, 1993, pp. 436-442 .
  18. ^ J. Clottes: La Grotte du Four Caylus (Tarn-et-Garonne) . In: Bull. De la Soc. Prehist. Française . tape 71 , 1974, p. 383-400 .
  19. ^ J. Gomez: Les cultures de l'Age du Bronze dans le bassin de la Charente . Périgueux 1980.
  20. ^ E. Gauron: Contribution à l'étude de la céramique charentaise du Néolithique final . In: Mém. de la Soc. Archéol. et Hist. de la Charente . 1971, p. 269-275 .
  21. ↑ G. Frugier: Un site protohistorique médocain à la Lède du Gurp . In: Les Cah. méduliens . tape 27 , 1979, pp. 13-41 .
  22. ^ J. Roussot-Laroque: Les civilizations néolithiques en Aquitaine . In: La Préhist. française . tape 2 , 1976, p. 338-350 .
  23. ↑ Xavier Hénaff: La céramique décorée du site artenacien de Ponthezières à Saint-Georges-d'Oléron (Charente-Maritime) in son cadre régional . In: Bulletin de la Société Préhistorique Française . tome 100, N. 4, 2003, p. 733-755 , doi : 10.3406 / ex 2003.12907 .
  24. ^ J. Roussot-Laroque: Les civilizations néolithiques en Aquitaine . In: La Préhist. française . tape 2 , 1976, p. 338-350 .
  25. ↑ J. Clottes: Inventaire des mégalithes de la France, 1st suppl. à Gallia Préhist. 5, lot. Paris 1977.
  26. ↑ A. Coffyn: L'épingle à tête enroulée de Saint-Séverin-sur-Boutonne (Charente Maritime) . In: Bull. De la Soc. Prehist. Française . tape 66 , 1969, p. 123 .