Abstract
During the construction of an underground car park, archaeological excavations allowed the study of a Middle Neolithic alluvial soil buried under more than 8 m of sediment in the low alluvial plain of the Paillon river (Nice, Alpes‑Maritimes). Chrono‑stratigraphic, sedimentological, ceramological and paleo‑ecological studies document the depositional conditions and the paleo‑environmental context. They confirm the role of Neolithic communities in the degradation of the vegetation cover and the impact of agro‑pastoral practices and extreme weather events on slope‑deposits erosion. These anthropogenic erosion episodes are characterized by a blurred granulometric signature and the presence of heterometric and heterogeneous inclusions disconnected from the background granulometric signal.