Acheulean of the Somme basin (France): Assessment of lithic changes during MIS 12 to 9 Agn  es Lamotte * , Alain Tuffreau University of Lille (France), Science and Technologies, UMR 8164 CNRS, Halma, France article info Article history: Available online xxx Keywords: Acheulian Somme Valley France Handaxes Cores Flake-tools abstract Several Acheulean sites dated between stages MIS 12 to 9 are located around the town of Amiens in the Somme Valley. These include: Cagny-la-Garenne I, Cagny-la-Garenne II, Cagny-la-Ferme de l'Epinette, Cagny-l'Epinette, Revelles and Gentelles. The aim of this paper is to present the chronological situation and context of each of these sites and to ascertain the continuity or the discontinuity of the main behavioral aspects of the raw material procurement patterns, the core types and the biface and tool-flake status. We also examine numerous aspects of shaping and knapping, such as the presence of hammer- stones or specialized classes of lithics. A synthesis of data underlines changes in the main categories of lithic artifacts and variability or convergence in the production systems. © 2015 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Data from Acheulean sites of the Somme Valley was first made known in the beginning of the 19th and 20th centuries (Mortillet, 1872; Commont, 1908, 1910; Vayson, 1920; Breuil and Kozlowski, 1931, 1932, 1934; Bordes and Fitte, 1953), until more recent exca- vations (Tuffreau, 1980, 1981, 1987; Antoine and Tuffreau, 1993). The sites are situated near the city of Amiens. They include: Cagny- la-Garenne I, II, Cagny-l'Epinette (1980e2012) (Tuffreau et al., 1986, 1995; Dibble et al., 1997; Antoine et al., 2003), St-Acheul (Tuffreau and Fagnart,1986-87), Cagny-Cimeti ere (1978-9 and 1993; L eopold, 1989, 1993; Tuffreau and Lamotte, 2001). Since 1995, the oppor- tunity to perform rescue excavations on the plateaus near Amiens guaranteed a new point of view of archaeological sites in a doline context. The sites provide new insights into raw material availability, time of occupation, and technological aspects for artifacts and tools kits different from those in the Somme Valley and its terraces. This is the case for Ferme de l'Epinette (1994-5) (Tuffreau et al., 1997b; Lamotte et al., 2001), Gentelles (Tuffreau et al., 2001) and Revelles (Guerlin et al., 2005; Lamotte et al., 2007), whose rescue excava- tions were linked to the construction of a motorway 7e9 km southeast and southwest of the city of Amiens (Figs. 1 and 2). All of the collections studied are from recent excavations. The history of the research in the Somme basin is well known because of early excavations and the opportunity to carry out new rescue excavations over large areas. The well-conserved alluvial deposits preserved in a stepped terrace system have been favorable for obtaining reliable absolute and relative dates (Tuffreau et al., 1982; Balescu and Haesaerts, 1984; Haesaerts et al., 1984; Haesaerts and Dupuis, 1986; Moigne, 1988; Van Liet-Lano€ e, 1989; Antoine, 1990, 1994, 2001; Antoine and Tuffreau, 1993; Bates, 1993; Laurent et al., 1994; Auguste, 1995, 2012; Balescu and Tuffreau, 2004). Cagny-la-Garenne I (Fig. 2,n  1) is composed of a sequence of gravels, fluvial silts and chalk debris derived from the nearby chalk talus and interstratified in fluvial silts (Somm e, 1989). The gravels of Cagny-la-Garenne I and II are attributed to MIS 12 (ESR date 400 ± 101 ka; (Laurent et al., 1994; Bahain et al., 2001, 2002, 2007). At Cagny-l'Epinette (Fig. 2,n  3) most of the levels are contained in fine-grained fluvial sediments attributed to the end of late glacial period to the beginning of an interglacial (MIS 10-9) (ESR: 296 ± 53 ka; Laurent et al., 1994). This site is unique for its rich faunal record and evidence for hominin activities (Tuffreau, 1989, 2004; Tuffreau et al., 1995, 1997a; Auguste et al., 2004; Lamotte et al., 2004). Several hundred meters from Cagny l'Epinette, Ferme de l'Epinette (rescue excavations of 1994e95) (Fig. 2, n  4) is disconnected from the “usual” fluvial context. The main level MS * Corresponding author. E-mail address: Agnes.Lamotte@univ-lille1.fr (A. Lamotte). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Quaternary International journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/quaint http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2015.08.058 1040-6182/© 2015 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved. Quaternary International xxx (2015) 1e19 Please cite this article in press as: Lamotte, A., Tuffreau, A., Acheulean of the Somme basin (France): Assessment of lithic changes during MIS 12 to 9, Quaternary International (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2015.08.058