Northern France Was Already Inhabited More Than 650,000 Years Ago

Conny Waters - AncientPages.com - New findings of a team of French researchers show the first evidence of human occupation in northern France has been put back by 150,000 years.

The findings come from the site of Moulin Quignon in the department of the Somme. The site, now located in the gardens of a housing estate in Abbeville, that was rediscovered in 2017 after falling into oblivion for over 150 years.

Photographs of three of the bifaces discovered during the archaeological excavation at Moulin Quignon.  Images C and D are the facial and lateral views of the same hand ax.  Credits: Nature/Scientific Reports

More than 260 flint objects, including 5 bifaces or hand axes, dating from 650,000 to 670,000 years ago, have been uncovered in sands and gravel deposited by the river Somme about 30 meters above the current valley.

This also makes Moulin Quignon the oldest site in north-western Europe where bifaces have been found. The discovery confirms the central position of the Somme Valley in current debates about Europe's oldest settlements.

In their paper, the researchers also say that hominins using bifacial technology, such as Homo heidelbergensis, were probably able to overcome cold climate conditions as early as 670–650 000 years ago and reasserts the importance of the Somme valley, where Prehistory was born at the end of the 19^th century.

"Our results confirm the age of the earliest well-controlled bifacial (hand ax) technology both in the North and South of Europe. They also indicate that hominins associated with an Acheulian technology, in all likelihood Homo heidelbergensis, were able to expand into northern latitudes as early as 670–650 ka, which is much earlier than previously anticipated, and not only during interglacial periods..".

This discovery pushes back the age of the oldest Acheulian occupation of north-western Europe by more than 100 ka and bridges the gap between the archaeological records of northern France and England.

See also:

Megaliths In Central France: 30 Prehistoric Monolith Stones And One Human Skeleton – Unearthed

Beautiful Mosaics Reveals Ancient Secrets Of Unknown Roman City Ucetia In France

7,000-Year-Old Male Skeleton In Garment Decorated With Sea Shells, Red Deer Teeth Identified In France

More Archaeology News

Acheulian technology was named after the site of St. Acheul on the Somme River in France where artifacts from this tradition were first discovered in 1847.

Acheulean stone tools are the products of Homo erectus, a closer ancestor to modern humans. Not only are the Acheulean tools found over the largest area, but it is also the longest-running industry, lasting for over a million years. The earliest known Acheulean artifacts from Africa have been dated to 1.6 million years ago. The oldest Acheulean sites in India are only slightly younger than those in Africa. In Europe, the earliest Acheulean tools appear just after 800,000 years ago, as H. erectus moved north out of Africa.

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Written by Conny Waters - AncientPages.com Staff Writer