The World of Elephants International Congress, Rome 2001

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The World of Elephants - International Congress, Rome 2001

1. I

NTRODUCTION

The Terra Amata open air site is located in

the city of Nice (SE of France) in the western

slope of Mount Boron, at the altitude of 30 m

above modern sea-level. Six months of excava-

tion organised in 1966 by H. de Lumley on

about 120 m

2

, have uncovered a succession of

paleosurfaces with a high concentration of arte-

facts attributed to acheulean culture (Lumley et

al. 1976; Villa 1978, Coombs 1997), large

mammals bone remains and evidence of struc-

ture (fire structure, huts, etc).

The stratigraphic sequence contains about 10

m of deposits. It consists in four principal units,

A, B, C1 which contain each other a beach

ridge (marine transgression period) covered by

a dune (regression period), and on the top of the

sequence, the C2 unit, which is only continen-

tal. The archaeological levels belong to the C1

unit which is divided in C1a : calcareous clay

and marine beach, and C1b : dune (de Lumley

et al. 1976). The age of these formations is

essentially based on the succession of the fossil

marine beaches deposited on the Mount Boron.

H. de Lumley et al. (1976) attributed the

marine deposits of Terra Amata to the isotopic

stage 11. In 1977, a preliminary thermolumi-

nescence dating realized on two burnt flints

from the beach (C1a) have given an age of

214,000 and 244,000 years respectively

(Wintle & Aitken 1977). Recently, the ESR dat-

ing on quartz sediment from the beach C1a

indicates an age of 380,000 ± 80,000 years

(Falguères et al. 1991).

The mammalian fauna from C1 units con-

sists in Elephas antiquus, Bos primigenius,

Hemitragus bonali, Sus scrofa, Cervus ela-

phus, Stephanorhinus hemitoechus, Ursus sp.,

Oryctolagus cuniculus (Mourer-Chauviré &

Renault-Miskovsky 1980; Serre 1991; El

Guennouni 2001). The size of the rhinoceros

of Terra Amata and the degree of hypsodonty

is close to the population of Orgnac 3 (stage 9)

studied by Aouraghe (1992) (Lacombat pers.

comm.). This association is relatively similar

in both levels C1a and C1b. The rodents are

represented by very few remains, attributed by

J. Chaline to Apodemus sylvaticus, Microtus

brecciensis, Arvicola cantianus, Pliomys sp.

The study of amphibians and reptiles shows a

large representation of Malpolon monspessu-

lanus in all the levels associated to Testudo

hermanni in the dune C1b; these species 

are characteristic of a Mediterranean climate

and indicate the presence of an open

Mediterranean forest (Bailon, pers. comm.).

In general, this faunal assemblage corre-

sponds to a warm stage of the Middle

Pleistocene. These results are confirmed by

the palynological analysis (Mourer-Chauviré

& Renault-Miskovsky 1980).

The Elephants of Terra Amata open air site 

(Lower Paleolithic, France)

P. Valensi

Laboratoire départemental de Préhistoire du Lazaret, Nice, France -

[e-mail]

SUMMARY: The site of Terra Amata has yielded several remains of Elephas antiquus in the different

anthropic occupation levels. The preservation is not good and doesn’t allow to do a morphological study of

the remains. The population of Elephas is presented in its archaeological context and the principal tapho-

nomic observations are discussed.

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261

The Elephants of Terra Amata open air site (Lower Paleolithic, France)

2. M

ATERIAL AND

M

ETHODS

Over 12,000 remains of large mammals have

been discovered. The determination ratio is

about 20%. Nevertheless, in the dune, there is a

particularly large number of very small frag-

ments of Elephant teeth measuring less than 3

cm and which overestimates this ratio and the

frequency of this species. 

In general, the bone preservation of all the

species is not good, and particularly in the

beach levels (P unit). The bones show different

degrees of alteration on their cortical surfaces

and important degree of fragmentation due to

anthropic and/or climato-edaphic factors. The

revision of all the faunal remains is still in

progress and the taphonomic approach is con-

ducted using the principal archaeostratigraphic

units (order 1) (Tab. 1) which were established

by Pollet (1990). These units are used for the

MNI values. The utilisation of the smallest

units (order 2 or 3, see table 1) seems to be

incorrect because of the interdependence of the

levels which has been revealed by the study 

of the lithic refittings (Villa 1978, 1982). The

influence of the choice of the quantifying unit

Fig.1 - Elephant skeletal element frequencies per archaeostratigraphic units.

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262

The World of Elephants - International Congress, Rome 2001

on the MNI values has already been described

in the case of Lazaret cave (Valensi 2000). A

data base containing all the palaeontological

information allow us to carry out the space dis-

tribution analysis. 

3. P

RELIMINARY

R

ESULTS

At Terra Amata, Elephas antiquus is one of

the best represented species in terms of NISP

(25%) and MNI (17%). The distribution of the

remains is given per level in table 1. About 30,

32 and 22 remains come respectively from the

beach, the P4 unit and the M unit, and 381

remains (specially small molar fragments) from

the dune. At least 8 individuals have been

counted in using the principal archaeostrati-

graphic units. We have determined 1 young

individual in the M unit, 1 young and 1 adult in

the P4 continental unit, 1 very young and 1

adult in the beach (P unit) and 1 very young, 1

young (2-3 years) and 1 adult in the dune (D

unit). The population is represented by a major-

ity of juvenile animals. This abundance of non-

adults may characterise archaeological sites

with a selective capture of juvenile individuals

(see Fosse 1998). The representation of the dif-

ferent skeletal elements (Fig. 1) and the very

poor representation of polished or rounded

bones suggest that water is not responsable of

the accumulation or large dispersion of the

material (see Voorhies 1969; Behrensmeyer,

1988; Fosse 1994). This observation is con-

firmed by the study of the spatial analysis (El

Guennouni 2001). The frequency of the skele-

tal elements seems to indicate an early access

(hunting or early scavenging) to the elephants

and transport to the camp by humans, especial-

ly in the marine deposit where the elephants are

represented by fragments of skull, mandibles,

teeth and some vertebrae, ribs and limb bones. 

Only few milk teeth are complete. Cranium,

limb bones and teeth of adults are all frag-

mented. The fragmentation of the bones is 

due to climato-edaphic conditions (presence

of different stages of weathering) and in some

cases to human activity. Evidence of carcass

exploitation by man for food or other activi-

ties is difficult to underline. Nevertheless

some bones show the presence of percussion

pits and green bone fractures. Finally, a non-

identifed bone fragment presents one rounded

and very polished edge, possibly as a result 

of a use-wear.

The spatial analysis is still in progress. It

seems to indicate that the different archaeolog-

ical levels correspond to a succession of short

occupations. In each archaeological layer, the

elephant remains are strongly associated to the

others species and the lithic artefacts. 

Tab.1 - Description of the archaeostratigraphic levels of the site.

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4. C

ONCLUSIONS

The Lower Palaeolithic site of Terra Amata

corresponds to a succession of open air habitats

wich have yielded an abundant acheulean

industry associated with a middle pleistocene

fauna.

Among the large mammals, Elephas antiqu-

us is one of the well represented species. The

bad preservation of the remains, due to clima-

to-edaphic patterns, doesn’t allow to describe

the morphological characteristics of the popu-

lation. The interest of the study is based on the

taphonomic approach, knowing the archaeo-

logical context of the site. Elephant remains are

present in all the levels attributed to anthropic

occupations. The preliminary taphonomic

results seem to underline a selective capture (by

hunting or early scavenging) of young individ-

uals.

5. A

CKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Author is thankful to M. Goudet, curator, and

to the staff of the museum of Terra Amata,

to Prof. H. de Lumley for his support of this

study and to G. Pollet for his advice on the

archaeostratigraphic units.

6. R

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