Papers by Clément Nicolas
Bulletin de la Société préhistorique française, 2023
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Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society
Ever since large amounts of Bell Beaker complex pottery were first discovered within megalithic g... more Ever since large amounts of Bell Beaker complex pottery were first discovered within megalithic graves in north-western France, the Bell Beaker has been tightly tied to the ‘megalithic phenomenon’. However, the fact of construction of these various kinds of megalithic monument during the Middle to Late Neolithic pre-dates the users of Bell Beakers. While this is a case of the re-use of older funerary monuments, it is assumed that Bell Beaker funerary practices witness a shift from Neolithic collective burial to individual inhumation. For a long time finds from the megalithic graves have constituted our main source of information on the Bell Beaker complex in north-western France. However, these ‘artificial caves’ have biased our understanding of the Bell Beaker complex and, in particular, of its funerary practices. The re-assessment of old finds and recent large-scale excavations have brought to light a large number of new sites, revealing a greater diversity in Bell Beaker funerary...
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HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), Jul 1, 2022
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HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), 2015
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National audienc
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HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), May 30, 2016
International audienc
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Plus d’un millier de tumulus ont ete fouilles depuis le xixe siecle en basse Bretagne. Ceux-ci on... more Plus d’un millier de tumulus ont ete fouilles depuis le xixe siecle en basse Bretagne. Ceux-ci ont fourni un important corpus mobilier (pointes de fleches, vases, poignards, haches, fourreaux en cuir, parures, outils en pierre). La chronologie de ces objets a longtemps ete discutee, mais un examen critique des dates radiocarbone permet de s’assurer de leur contemporaneite et de leur datation aux debuts de l’âge du Bronze. La revue detaillee de ces objets funeraires permet d’observer differents niveaux de savoir-faire. Certains artefacts (fleches, poignards) ont necessite une grande habilete technique suggerant l’existence d’artisans specialises. D’autres, comme les vases ou les outils en pierre, ont pu etre produits dans un cadre domestique ou artisanal. La repartition de ces biens dans les tombes bretonnes et outre-Manche revele l’existence d’objets communs, possedes par le plus grand nombre, ou d’objets prestigieux, detenus par quelques-uns. Cette distribution heterogene reflete v...
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Excavated from 2003 to 2011, the site of Beg ar Loued in the southern part of Molene Island has y... more Excavated from 2003 to 2011, the site of Beg ar Loued in the southern part of Molene Island has yielded the remains of two dry stone houses superimposed and occupied between 2150 and 1750 cal BC. At this time, the Molene Archipelago was in a similar form as today, except the foreshores, which were much larger. The site was then a hundred meters from the shoreline. The study of the site allows a more comprehensive understanding of the way of life of this island society. They used to farm and breed livestock, supplemented by fishing on the foreshore, collecting limpets and to a lesser extent hunting migratory birds. The material culture shows that this group used local resources: clay, sea pebbles and outcrops. This picture of a self-sufficient society must be qualified. Indeed, the architecture of buildings, the ceramic forms, the lithic technology and the metalworking are evidence that this society was linked with what was happening on the mainland. That raises question of seafaring...
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Nicolas Clément. Prieto Martínez M. P. et Salanova L., éd. (2015) — The Bell Beaker Transition in... more Nicolas Clément. Prieto Martínez M. P. et Salanova L., éd. (2015) — The Bell Beaker Transition in Europe: Mobility and Local Evolution during the 3rd Millenium BC. In: Bulletin de la Société préhistorique française, tome 113, n°2, 2016. pp. 394-396
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For several years, research work is conducted in the western part of the French Atlantic coast to... more For several years, research work is conducted in the western part of the French Atlantic coast to study changes in coastal and island landscapes and their links with past societies. This interdisciplinary research is conducted in a French iLTER (Long-Term Ecological Research). This proposal aims to synthesize the results and to present the latest advances in this field. Our efforts have focused on a better understanding of the Holocene Relative Sea-Level (RSL) rise using salt-marsh foraminifera. The RSL data were then used to perform simulations on the paleogeographic changes from bathymetric and terrestrial Lidar data. This work was crossed with an extensive program of archaeological excavations and shed new light on the living conditions of the island societies of the Neolithic and the Bronze Age. Efforts have also been made to reconstruct the transformations of vegetation landscapes. Results highlighted deforestation processes due to the development of agriculture and metallurgy ...
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En prealable a la construction de deux maisons, un diagnostic archeologique a ete realise au lieu... more En prealable a la construction de deux maisons, un diagnostic archeologique a ete realise au lieu-dit le Bourg sur l’ile Molene, legerement en contrebas du point culminant. Malgre une superficie modeste (705 m2), cette operation aura livre plusieurs informations importantes aussi bien sur le plan archeologique que geomorphologique. En premier lieu, il faut mentionner la decouverte d’un chopper du Paleolithique ancien (Colombanien) bien cale en stratigraphie et pose a plat presque au contact d’une plage ancienne pleistocene. Le site est egalement occupe entre le Neolithique recent et l’âge du Bronze ancien, une forte densite de silex tailles essentiellement debites sur enclume a ete reperee dans la moitie nord de l’emprise au sein d’un vieux sol. Deux remontages entre des silex attestent vraisemblablement un debitage in situ. La presence de ceramiques associees va dans le sens d’une occupation domestique situee a proximite. Enfin, deux bases de murets en pierre seche tres epierres on...
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Oxford Journal of Archaeology, 2021
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Bulletin de la Société préhistorique française, 2016
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Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, 2017
This article presents a comparative study of the arrowheads found in graves dating to between 250... more This article presents a comparative study of the arrowheads found in graves dating to between 2500 BC and 1700bcin north-west France, southern Britain and Denmark. The aim is to characterise their modes of production and functions during a period which successively sees the introduction of copper then bronze metallurgy, the former accompanying the appearance of Bell Beaker pottery and associated practices in these areas. Several modes of production are proposed, from individual manufacture by Bell Beaker-using warriors to specialist production for elite use during the Early Bronze Age. Over and above their function as weapons – arguably associated more with interpersonal combat than with hunting – arrowheads served to portray and emphasise the social status of the individuals. In the case of the Early Bronze Age Armorican arrowheads, they should be regarded as ‘sacred’ objects, made for display and enhancing the power of the chiefs. Lastly, arrows are placed in the broader perspecti...
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Gallia préhistoire, 2013
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Bulletin de la Société préhistorique française, 2011
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Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, 2014
The Molène archipelago appears to be particularly rich in Neolithic and Bronze Age remains and an... more The Molène archipelago appears to be particularly rich in Neolithic and Bronze Age remains and an exceptional concentration of megaliths has been brought to light. Several settlements are confirmed by dry-stone structures or by shell middens. These data give precious indications on the occupation chronology of the area. Moreover they allow us, for the first time in Brittany, to reconstruct everyday life during the late Prehistoric period. A prerequisite to this reconstruction was a better understanding of the evolution of the environment during this period, which locally implies a better knowledge of paleogeographic changes related to Holocene sea-level rise as well as on floral and faunal resources.The results obtained through paleogeographic reconstructions show that the archipelago since 4500 bc was already disconnected from the mainland. The megalithic monuments must therefore have been erected and used by islanders present on the archipelago from the middle of the 5th to the 2n...
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Norois, 2011
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Oxford Journal of Archaeology, 2021
While early maps are known from all over the world, the key questions always involve: what exactl... more While early maps are known from all over the world, the key questions always involve: what exactly do they show? And what spatial extent do they cover? In this context, we recently used 3D-modelling to reexamine a carved stone slab datable to the Early Bronze Age (c.2150-1600 BC) that was found at Saint-Bélec in Brittany. We show that the surface of the slab had been shaped in three dimensions to represent the relief of the surrounding landscape in which it was found, while several engraved motifs on it evoke contemporary structures known archaeologically. We argue that the Saint-Bélec slab represents an area of c.545 km 2 corresponding to the extent of a prehistoric political entity. The carving and subsequent burying of the slab can be linked to the postulated rise and fall of hierarchical societies and raises many wider questions about socioeconomic structures in temperate Europe at that time.
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Papers by Clément Nicolas
Since 2001, archaeological research has been conducted in the Molène Archipelago, an area that is particularly rich in remains from the Neolithic and the Bronze Age, with an exceptional concentration of megalithic monuments. Several settlements are attested by the presence of domestic refuse dumps. At the point of Beg ar Loued (Molène Island), one of those shell middens was the object of an initial sondage in 2003, and that marked the beginning of a long series of excavations. Fieldwork took a decisive turn during the second year with the recognition of the first dry stone walls, belonging to a building preserved within the sand dunes. For nearly a decade, this site has been excavated by an interdisciplinary team. The data that have been obtained from this fieldwork provide information on the chronology of the various periods of occupation of the site and help to document the 3rd – 2nd millennium BC transition, a period still largely unknown in the northern half of France. In addition to providing a relative chronology, the architec¬tural approach gives us a better understanding of the choices that governed the different construction phases of the building, which was occupied for over three centuries. The elements of material culture (pottery, lithics, metalwork) also shed light on a period essentially known in Brittany through its funerary monuments. For the first time in this region, thanks to the preservation of organic remains, it is possible to sketch the lifestyle (livestock management, agriculture, fishing, shell gathering, etc.) of the people who occupied the shores of the Iroise Sea. In order to understand better the overall trends in this insular environment, new researches have been carried out on sea level changes in tandem with the study of the palaeoenvironment, geomorphology, geology and wildlife.
High quality pdf available here : https://easy.dans.knaw.nl/ui/datasets/id/easy-dataset:63830
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Exhibition of the Association Tumulus inaugurated on the occasion of the Fête du Métal in Locronan (17th-19th June 2016).
M. NORDEZ - Parures métalliques de l'âge du Bronze moyen en Europe atlantique : production, circulation et pratiques culturelles
T. POIGT - La pratique de la pesée : entre savoir-faire échangé et outil d'échange