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ntroduction...

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The site of Menez-Dregan is the oldest archaeological site of Brittany. The excavation has allowed researchers to better understand the arrival of Humans in the region 500,000 years ago, as well as their way of life.

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Globally known for the discovery of some of the oldest hearths in Europe, more than a dozen fire pits have been identified on the site so far.

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The study of the entire archaeological collection up until 2018 is now complete, and is allowing us to assess the different human occupations that have occurred on this site during the Lower Palaeolithic (between -500,000 and -300,000 years in Menez-Dregan).

limatic variations during Prehistory

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During Prehistory, the climate has varied a lot, naturally and cyclically. Temperate periods, called "interglacial" and similar to the one we know today, alternate with colder periods, called "glacial" periods.

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These climatic variations are mainly due to the cycles of the Earth in accordance with the sun (shape of the orbit, proximity of the sun, etc.). During very cold periods, the ocean water is stocked at the poles in the form of ice sheet, and during warm periods, the ice melts, causing sea level to rise. At the very coldest period during prehistory, the ice sheet covered much of northern England, stretching down to the south of London.

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Climates and environments are therefore highly variable, and the sea level in Brittany has thus varied from -120 meters to +5 meters compared to the current level on many occasions. Landscapes of taiga or tundra (existing in Iceland today) or forests and coastal plain environments change according to the time periods and the climatic conditions. The animals present at the time and found on other sites in Brittany can give evidence of environmental conditions; either very cold conditions (mammoths, woolly rhinoceros, polar foxes, lemming etc.) or warmer conditions (elephants, rhinos, hyenas, deer etc.).

During the prehistoric occupation of certain archaeological levels of Menez-Dregan, the sea level was much lower, and the shoreline was probably between 5 and 10 km farther out than the current one.

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During this period, the Audierne Bay was dry, and a wide plain spread out in place of the sea. The archaeological deposit was therefore originally located at the top of a high rocky promontory, which opened out onto a vast landscape. This location provided a strategic shelter for the populations, and also provided an ideal vista onto the plain below, allowing them to see at a distance the large herds of herbivores (rhinoceros, horses, elephants etc.) which grazed there. The human groups of this period could then watch the predators who attacked the herds below the site on the plain below, then go down to scavenge pieces of the carcass, which was brought back and consumed in the cave.

Several different hominin populations have occupied the site between around -465 000 and -200 000 years ago.

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The first hominins to have ventured into the Brittany area are the "Preneanderthals", also known as "European Homo erectus" or "Homo heidelbergensis" according to researchers. No human remains have ever been found at Menez-Dregan, however we can draw parallels with other contemporary European sites, such as Tautavel in France, Mauer in Germany, Atapuerca in Spain, or Boxgrove in England.

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The current tendency is to call the groups present before Neanderthals "Preneanderthals" by analogy, since no fossil remains were found in the region. These are the Lower Palaeolithic populations of Western Europe, in this case between about 500,000 and 250,000 years ago.

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From -250 000 years onwards, a new hominin group appears in Menez-Dregan: the Neanderthals. This species is present everywhere in Europe until the arrival of the modern humans (« Homo sapiens ") around -35,000 years ago. 

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ho are the Humans present at Menez-Dregan?

ite location

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The site of Menez-Dregan I is located on the coast of the city of Plouhinec (Finistère). It is more precisely situated on the tip of Souc'h, in a corridor of marine erosion opening at 7m above the mean sea level, which has gradually collapsed. It is this collapse of the roof cave that has allowed the preservation of the deposit through time. At each sea level rise during prehistory, the collapsed roof blocks would slow down its erosive and destructive action, preserving the remains. The archaeological deposit is currently located in the cliff, above sea level, below the coastal path.

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