A mammoth and humans on the banks of the Marne

The current excavation will enable archaeologists to clarify the age of the probscidian and perhaps the circumstances of its death: did it drown, or was it trapped in mud? Was it hunted or scavenged by predators? A usewear analysis of the flint flake will be performed to determine its function and a zooarchaeological study will detect possible cut marks on the bones. 

The discovery at Changis-sur-Marne is exceptional since humans and mammoths have been found together at only two Middle Paleolithic sites in western Europe: Lehringen and Gröbern in Germany. There is also the site of Ranville, in the Calvados region, where an ancient elephant (Elephas antiquus) was scavenged approximately 220,000 years ago. Finally, the excavation at Tourville-la-Rivière, in the Seine-Maritime department, recently uncovered aurochs, horses, bears, lions and panthers that were transported by the Seine, 200,000 years ago. Neandertals, who were fine connoisseurs of their territory, recovered several resources (meat, tendons, hide, etc.) from this natural jackpot.

In the near future, archaeologists and paleontologists should be able to determine whether the mammoth of Changis was killed by Neandertals, or whether they scavenged the animal after its natural death. This discovery will contribute to the debate among scientists concerning the predatory skills of Neandertals. The ultimate challenge is to determine the precise date of the event, using radiometric and chrono-stratigraphic methods.

The animal was discovered in a quarry in Changis-sur-Marne during the preventive excavation of a Gallo-Roman site, which is itself remarkable. The first bones appeared in the front cut of the quarry. Due to the interest of this discovery, the Regional Direction of Cultral Affairs (Drac) of Île-de-France organized a preventive operation, realized conjointly by the Drac and the Institut National de Recherches Archéologiques Préventives (Inrap), with the collaboration of the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle in Paris, the physical geography laboratory of the CNRS in Meudon and the CEMEX, who is exploiting the quarry. This is the first excavation of its kind in France. It will be completed in early November.