A Late Neolithic Structured Dwelling: the Automobile Village of Lachaup, Gap (Hautes-Alpes) (Abridged version)
- Cet article est une traduction de :
- Un habitat structuré du Néolithique final : le Village Automobile de Lachaup, Gap (Hautes-Alpes) [fr]
Résumés
Le site du Village Automobile de Lachaup, localisé à environ 5 km au sud de l’agglomération de Gap, a fait l’objet en 2015 d’une fouille préventive réalisée par l’Inrap sous la direction de D. Dubesset. Il se développe sur la pente occidentale d’un petit relief culminant à environ 720 m d’altitude. L’étude a permis la mise au jour d’un habitat structuré s’articulant à partir d’un fossé. À l’est, il délimite une zone consacrée à l’implantation et au fonctionnement de vingt foyers à pierres chauffantes circulaires. Des analyses organiques effectuées sur les blocs de quatre foyers montrent un contact avec de la matière grasse animale, confirmant ainsi leur utilisation dans un cadre culinaire. L’espace domestique est situé à l’ouest, en contrebas du fossé, plus précisément dans la partie nord-occidentale de l’emprise fouillée. Dans ce secteur, un plan d’habitation d’environ 104 m2 a pu être mis en évidence. Dix-huit trous de poteau dessinent un plan rectangulaire divisé dans sa longueur par une rangée de poteaux centrale. L’espace domestique associé y est constitué de niveaux de sols mis en évidence grâce à une étude micromorphologique d’un petit foyer à pierres chauffantes et d’autres trous de poteaux. La faible quantité de mobilier récoltée fournit peu d’informations. Ainsi, la chronologie a été appréhendée par le biais de neuf analyses radiocarbone. Après calibration, ces dernières donnent une fourchette chronologique globale comprise entre 2886 et 2468 cal. BCE à 95,40 % de probabilité. L’imprécision des dates s’explique par un phénomène de plateau. Le site du Village Automobile de Lachaup est singulier en raison de l’organisation de son espace. Il renouvelle nos connaissances concernant l’habitat dans le sud-est de la France et permet d’appréhender les modes de vie des sociétés du Néolithique final dans les Hautes-Alpes.
Entrées d’index
Mots-clés :
Néolithique final, habitation, foyers à pierres chauffantes, spécialisation de l’espace, enceinteTexte intégral
1The discovery of several hearths with heating stones during a survey conducted by the Inrap in 2009 (Voyez and Dubesset 2009), prior to the development of a commercial zone, provided an opportunity to study a Late Neolithic settlement. A preventive archaeological excavation was thus carried out by the Inrap in 2015, over an area of approximately 3200 m² (Dubesset et al. 2018). The site is located at a place called “la Plaine de Lachaup” in a dominant geographical situation, on the western slope of a small relief culminating at an altitude of 720 m, about 5 km south of the town of Gap and 250 m west of the current National Road No. 85. The Rousine, a river with an intermittent hydrological regime, runs more than twenty metres below the western edge of the study area. The morphology of the site and the observed surface deposits reflect glacial and post-glacial dynamics.
2The archaeological settlement is on a slope and comprises structures that do not all impact the same stratigraphic units. Meticulous mechanical stripping revealed the paleotopography of the site, marked by a slope towards the southwest of about 7.7% at an altitude between 704.2 m NGF and 710.2 m NGF. A total of 64 archaeological features were recorded and excavated. Five types of archaeological features were identified: hearths with heating stones, ditches, pits, post holes, stone structures, and floor levels. The spatial distribution of these elements shows a well-defined layout. From east to west, a first area of approximately 550 m² comprises 19 hearths with heating stones, as well as two pits and two stone structures. It is delimited to the west by a slightly curved ditch. To the northwest of the area, a set of archaeological features very clearly mark out a dwelling site.
3The excavation of the site in the automobile village of Lachaup yielded very significant data for the Late Neolithic of the Alpine area. The site enhances our knowledge of settlements and contributes to our understanding of lifestyles in Late Neolithic societies in the Hautes-Alpes. The study of the archaeological finds, as well as radiocarbon analyses, indicate an age for the site between 2886 and 2476 BC. Given these chronological data, it is pertinent to address the question of the contemporaneity of the discovered remains. We must look to the spatial distribution of the features in order to clarify this point. The various components of the occupation are clearly distributed around a ditch. The ditch (FO1041 and FO1187) delimits a space to the west comprising a dwelling unit, a small fireplace with heating stones (FY1044), floor levels (ST1042 and ST1043), as well as other post holes with no clear plan. To the east lies an area comprising fireplaces with heating stones. The rather imprecise radiometric analyses are not incompatible with a possible synchronism between the different remains. Consequently, we consider that these remains represent the exceptionally well-preserved layout of the different components of a Late Neolithic settlement.
4The Lachaup site with house plans is the first example of its kind studied in the Southern Alps. In addition, the sizeable dwelling structure (approximately 100 m²) is among the largest currently known for the end of the Neolithic in the southeast of France. It illustrates an architecture on supporting posts, with no stone, which is rare in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur. Comparable buildings are nevertheless known further north in the Alpine sphere or in northern Italy. The area with hearths is located away from the dwelling. Organic analyses have shown that hearths with heating stones were used for culinary purposes. Given the large size and the work required to build these structures, they exemplify a collective enterprise designed to prepare occasional meals or share food among a group.
5A ditch could characterize an enclosure. However, this does not seem to delimit a defensive boundary and could have been dug to channel runoff water during stormy episodes in order to protect the dwelling.
6Archaeological finds at the site are rare and data relating to the local economy are very partial. The absence of polished stone tools despite the proximity of Mont Viso and the bed of the Durance is particularly noteworthy. The same observation can be made concerning the lack of copper finds, even though the Saint-Véran site is located only 70 km away. Fauna is represented by domestic cattle, sheep/goats and pork, with no hunted animals. The corpus is small, and is not conducive to statistical analysis. Agricultural data are also lacking. The only carpological remains are a pea seed discovered in a heating stone hearth (FY1118). Grinding equipment (two millstones and a knurl) nevertheless attests to farming. Lithic raw materials were acquired locally or further away (towards the southwest). The most distant raw material sources are located around fifty kilometres away. Finally, we note that a relatively high proportion of bladelets were produced by pressure flaking, which is rare in this region for this phase of the Late Neolithic.
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Référence électronique
Denis Dubesset, Marie Bouchet, Nicolas Garnier, Isabelle Rodet-Belarbi, Jean-Philippe Sargiano, Olivier Sivan, Julia Wattez, Nicolas Bourgarel, Frédéric Guériel et Marie Millet, « A Late Neolithic Structured Dwelling: the Automobile Village of Lachaup, Gap (Hautes-Alpes) (Abridged version) », Gallia Préhistoire [En ligne], 64 | 2024, mis en ligne le 08 juillet 2024, consulté le 12 février 2026. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/galliap/4635 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/11z19
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