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Defleur, Alban

Affiliated Researcher

E-mail: adefleur@iphes.cat

Alban Defleur's research focuses on the archeology of the Middle and Early Palaeolithic. Two main lines of research are privileged. The first concerns the cultural framework of the Middle and Upper Pleistocene human populations of southeastern France through the study of lithic artefacts and the transport of raw materials from lithic assemblages with the aim of isolating cultural groups. This research is carried out thanks to the study of several sites in the middle Rhône valley and the Var coast. The reconstruction of paleoenvironments and the positioning of these sites in their climatic and chronological frameworks complete the cultural component of this research axis.
The discovery of more than 120 human remains belonging to 6 Neanderthals, all cannibalized, discovered in layer XV of Baume Moula-Guercy (Ardèche), more than 120 human remains led A. Defleur to take an interest in the modalities and causes of Neanderthal cannibalism.

A. Defleur is also invested in several themes of experimental archeology.

Currently, he is involved in collaborative archaeological field and laboratory work at Paleolithic sites and lithic assemblages in France, Ethiopia and Mongolia.

 

INTERNATIONAL PROJECTS

Mongolia - I’m co-leader with BAZARGUR Dashzeveg (Mongolian Academy of Sciences) of the France-Mongolia project "Research on Neanderthals / Denisovians of Mongolia: Agui Khad (Агуйт хад), a Middle Paleolithic cave in Mongolia. Archeology, environments and climatology.”

The project consist in excavation of newly discovered site Agui Khad in Northern Mongolia that would provide the following:

  • An excavation with modern and high-resolution methods with a special emphasis on chronocultural and environmental contexts.
  • A larger sample of archeological material, necessary to illustrate the MP assemblage variability in Mongolia and to support the comparison with the material from the Altai, Inner Mongolia (China) and Western Europe.
  • A high-resolution chronological and environmental data set: it is currently lacking for this Mongolian sites. Improving the resolution of the regional chronocultural and environmental sequence would contribute to a better understanding of the impact of climatic change on the development and variability of MP assemblages.
  • The discovery of a sandstone bead leads us to believe that the Denisovans, (until now only known in the cave of Denisova in the Russian Altai) are possibly the makers of lithic assemblage discovered in Aguit Khad.

Ethiopia - Member of the Middle Awash project, co-leaders Tim White and Berane Asfaw (1996-2010).

The Middle Awash research project in Ethiopia is an international multidisciplinary effort to elucidate human origins and evolution, conducted under permit from the Ethiopian Government (Authority for Research and Conservation of the Cultural Heritage, Ministry of Culture and Tourism).

The dual missions of the Middle Awash project are to generate knowledge through scientific research, and to build Ethiopian research and management capacity and infrastructure in archaeology, geology, and paleontology.

 

SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATIONS

Books

  • Defleur A., 1983 - Atlas Préhistorique du Midi méditerranéen : Feuille de Carpentras, CNRS ed, 1983, 220 p., 47 fig.
  • Defleur A., 1993 - Les sépultures moustériennes, 1993, CNRS ed, 325 p., 71 fig.
  • Defleur A. Crégut-Bonnoure E., 1995 - Le gisement paléolithique moyen de la grotte des Cèdres (Plan d’Aups, Var), 1995, DAF n° 49, Ministère de la Culture ed, 182 p., 134 fig.

Main Articles

  • Defleur A., Dutour O., Valladas H., et Vandermeermersch, 1993 – Cannibals among the Neanderthals? Nature, 362, n° 6417, p. 214.
  • Defleur A., White T., Valensi, P., Slimak, L., Crégut-Bonnoure E, 1999 – Neanderthal cannibalism at Moula-Guercy, Ardèche, France. Science, vol. 286, 128-131.
  • Desmond Clark J., Beyene Y., Woldegabriel G., Hart W.K., Renne P., Gilbert H., Defleur A., Suwa G., Katoh S., Ludwig K.R., Boisserie J.R., Asfaw B., White T., 2003 - Stratigraphic, chronological and behavioural contexts of Pleistocene Homo sapiens from Middle Awash, Ethiopia, Nature, Vol. 423, 447-451.
  • Defleur A., Crégut-Bonnoure E., Desclaux M., Thinon M, 2003 – Présentation paléo-environnementale du remplissage de la Baume Moula-Guercy (Ardèche) : implications paléoclimatiques et chronologiques. L’Anthropologie, 105 (2001), 369-408.
  • Defleur A., Bez J.-F., Crégut-Bonnoure E., Desclaux E., Onoratini G., Radulescu C., Thinon M., Villette P., 1994 – Le niveau moustérien de la grotte de l’Adaouste (Jouques, Bouches-du-Rhône). Approche culturelle et paléoenvironnements. Bulletin du Musée Anthropologique de Monaco, 37, p. 11-48.
  • Defleur A., Bez J.-F., Crégut-Bonnoure E., Fontugne M., Jeannet M., Magnin F., Talon B., Thinon M., Combier J., 1994 – Industries, biostratigraphie, restes humains et datation du gisement moustérien de la Baume Néron (Soyons, Ardèche). C.R. Acad. Sci. Paris, 318, série II, 1409-1414.
  • Valensi P., Crégut-Bonnoure E., Defleur A., 2012 - Archeozoological data from the Mousterian level from Moula-Guercy (Ardèche, France) bearing cannibalized Neanderthals remains. Quaternary International, 252, (2012), 48-55.
  • Benson A., Kinsley L., Wilmes M., Defleur A., Kokkonen H., Mussi M., Grün R., 2013 – Laser ablation depth profiling of U-Series and Sr isotopes in Human fossils. Journal of Archeological Sciences, 40, 7, 2991-3000
  • Hlusko L., Carlson J., Guatelli-Steinberg D., Krueger K., Mersey B., Ungar P., Defleur A., 2013 – Neanderthals teeth from Moula-Guercy, Ardèche, France. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 151, 477-491 (2013).
  • Mersey B., Brudvik K., Blake M.T., Defleur A., 2013 – Neanderthal Axial and Appendicular remains from Moula-Guercy, Ardèche, France. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 152, 530-542 (2013).
  • Mersey B., Jabbour, R., Brudvik K., Defleur A., 2013 – Neanderthal Hand and Foot remains from Moula-Guercy, Ardèche, France. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 152, 516-529 (2013).
  • Defleur, A., 2015 - Les industries lithiques moustériennes de la Baume Moula-Guercy (Soyons, Ardèche). Fouilles 1993-1999. L'Anthropologie 119, 2, 170-253.
  • Willmes M., Grün R., Douka K., Michel V., Richard A., Armstrong R.A., Benson A., Crégut-Bonnoure E., Desclaux E., Fang F., Kinsley L., Saos Th., Defleur, A.R., 2016 – A comprehensive Chronology of the Neanderthal site Moula-Guercy, Ardèche, France. Journal of Archaeological Science 9, 309-319 DOI : 10.1016/j.jasrep.2016.08.003
  • Salhé Y., Beyene Y., Defleur A., Asfaw B., Woldegabriel G., Hart W.K., Morgan L.E., Renne P.R., Carlson J., White T. 2017. Revisiting Herto: New evidence of Homo sapiens from Ethiopia. Modern Human Origins and Dispersal, Yonatan Sahle, Hugo Reyes-Centeno, Christian Bentz Editors. Kerns Verlag Tübingen, 73-105.
  • Salhé Y., Beyene Y., Defleur A., Asfaw B., Woldegabriel G., Hart W.K., Morgan L.E., Renne P.R., Carlson J., White T. 2017. Human emergence: Perspectives from Herto, Afar Rift, Ethiopia. Modern Human Origins and Dispersal, Yonatan Sahle, Hugo Reyes-Centeno, Christian Bentz Editors. Kerns Verlag Tübingen, 107-137.
  • Defleur A., Desclaux E., 2019. Impact of the last interglacial climate change on ecosystems and Neanderthals behavior at Baume Moula-Guercy, Ardèche, France. Journal of Archaeological Science 104, 2019, 114-124 Doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2019.01.002
  • Defleur A.R., Desclaux E., Jabbour R., Richards G., 2020. The Eemian: Global warming, ecosystem upheaval, demographic collapse and cannibalism at Moula-Guercy. A reply to Slimak and Nicholson (2020). Journal of Archaeological Science 117, 2020, 105-113. DOI: 10.1016/j.jas.2020.105113
  • Guillaud E., Bearez Ph., Daujeard C, Defleur A.R., Desclaux E., Rosello-Izquierdo E., Morales-Muniz A., Moncel M.-A., 2021. Neanderthal foraging in freshwater ecosystems: A reappraisal of the Middle Paleolithic archaeological fish record from continental Western Europe. Quaternary Science Reviews 252, 106731, doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2020.106731
  • Richards G.D, Guipert G, Jabbour RS, Defleur A.R. 2021. Neanderthal cranial remains from Baume Moula-Guercy (Soyons, Ardèche, France). American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 175, 201-226. Doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.24256
  • Richards, G. D., Jabbour, R. S., Guipert, G., & Defleur, A. (2022). Neanderthal child's occipital from Baume Moula-Guercy (Soyons, Ardèche, France). American Journal of Biological Anthropology, 1–20. https://doi. org/10.1002/ajpa.24489
  • Richards, G. D., Jabbour, R. S., Guipert, G., & Defleur, A. (2022). Endocranial anatomy of the Guercy 1 early Neanderthal from Baume Moula-Guercy (Soyons, Ardèche, France). The Anatomical Record, 1–30. https://doi.org/10.1002/ar.25118
  • Richards, G. D., Jabbour, R. S., Guipert, G., & Defleur, A. (2023). Neanderthal child's maxilla from Baume Moula-Guercy (Soyons, Ardèche, France). The Anatomical Record, 1–30. https://doi.org/10.1002/ar.25218