Résumé
The Renancourt district, located to the west of the town of Amiens, has been known in archaeological literature since the beginning of the 20th century through work carried out by V. Commont in the 'aneienne briqueterie Devalois'0. Until recently, this open-air site was one of the rare early Upper Palaeolithic records for the whole loess region in the north of France. From the 1990s onwards, and particularly from 2010, the discovery of several sites as part of rescue archaeological operations enhanced the record and improved our knowledge of this period. In 2011, a new concentration of remains, discovered right beside the first excavations undertaken by V. Commont, as brought to light during archaeological assessments linked to a development project. Annual programmed excavations have been conducted since 2014 at this site, now called Amiens-Renancourt 1.
The archaeological occupation, located at a depth of 4 in, is in a tundra gley. The loess sequence is about 8 in thick and corresponds mainly to the Upper Weichselian Pleniglacial. The first taphonomic observations point to a layer of remains covered rapidly by loess sedimentation. Six radiocarbon dates arc now available and place the occupation between 22000 and 23000 BP, i.e. around 27000 cal. BP.
The excavated surface currently extends over 41 m(2). The abundant lithic and bone objects are organized into different concentrations, some of which attain several hundred remains per square metre. The bone remains are relatively well conserved and the dominant species in the faunal spectrum is horse. The lithic industry is in high-quality flint, available immediately beside the site. It is characterized by: the production of large blades, sometimes over 20 cm long, obtained With a soft organic hammer, for manufacturing common tools but also several microliths (Gravette points). Separate bladelet production is used for the production of micronths, made up of backed bladelets with abrupt retouch, and several microgravettes.
Alongside these remains, several exceptional female statuettes in chalk were discovered with some ornamental elements. A first description of these objects is presented in this article. The whole or fragmented statuettes are of varied dimensions. They show the same stylistic characteristics, that is, overstated feminine attributes, often with full breasts and sometimes buttocks projected towards the rear. They are in fairly tender chalk and are often fragmented but are nonetheless conducive to the legible interpretation of manufacturing marks. Considering the material used, the reconstruction of the chaine operatoire of these figurines could easily include experimental tests and provide interpretative hypotheses for the fragmentation of these objects. Two types of personal ornaments were also discovered on the site: perforated roundels in chalk, some of which are grooved around the edge, and internal silicified Turritella fossils which probably come from Lutetian outcrops from the Aisne or Marne valley, located about 100 km south-east of the site.
Continued research at the 'high resolution' site of Amiens-Renancourt 1 will contribute to enhancing our knowledge of the settlement and socio-economic model of groups of hunters in the north of France before the second Weichselian glacial maximum. Previous chrono-cultural attributions pointed to a Final Gravettian age for this site, but current work indicates a Late-Final Gravettian age, which now requires further clarification.