Synthèse litho- et chronostratigraphique du remplissage pléistocène moyen de la Caune de l’Arago (Tautavel, France)

Abstract

Caune de l’Arago is an emblematic site of the Middle Pleistocene in Western Europe because it has yielded a large number of Human remains associated with a very rich lithic industry and a varied and abundant faunal assemblage, unique for the period between 560 and 400 ka. Stratigraphic, granulometric, mineralogical, petrographic, geochemical, microstructural and magnetic susceptibility variations lead to subdivide its thick infilling into four stratigraphic Complexes, themselves subdivided into Sequences and Ensembles. Numerous dating analyses carried out on this finely stratified infilling have contributed to the establishment of a solid chronostratigraphic framework taking into account the different phases of alteration and the composition of the successive levels of human occupation. This is one of the only sites where dating can be compared to a very rich fauna, allowing us to constrain the ages or at least to assimilate them to cold and dry or temperate and humid periods.