Saint-Pierre-d’Autils “Le Plaquis” (Eure): A New Key Site from the Early Neolithic Period for Understanding the Neolithisation of Normandy

The early Neolithic site of Saint-Pierre-d’Autils “Le Plaquis,” located on the banks of the Seine near Vernon (Eure), was excavated in 2010 by an Inrap team, and is now a reference site for understanding the colonisation of Normandy by Linear Pottery Culture tradition farmers and herders. A small group from the Paris Basin settled on land that was still unoccupied at that time. Three medium-sized houses were built on the banks of the river, forming a small village or hamlet. It was not possible to estimate the occupation duration of this settlement. Nevertheless, archaeological work uncovered abundant well-preserved stone, pottery and bone artefacts in side pits. A detailed study of these remains shows that Saint-Pierre-d’Autils is chronologically positioned between two major early Neolithic sites in Normandy; the Late Linear Pottery Culture site of Colombelles, known as “Le Lazzaro,” in the Caen plain, and the ancient Blicquy/Villeneuve-Saint-Germain site of Poses, known as “Sur la Mare,” situated a short distance downstream from Saint-Pierre-d’Autils in the Seine valley. Radiocarbon dating, combined with dating based on the study of artefacts, places this small settlement around 5050-5000 BCE. The geographical position of Colombelles “Le Lazzaro” and its chronological age in relation to Saint-Pierre-d’Autils are key elements in understanding the colonisation of the Normandy region, which is thought to have taken place in several successive waves of migration rather than in a single progressive wave. Saint-Pierre-d’Autils is located near the important village of Poses “Sur la Mare,” and both sites display similar pottery decorations. This suggests that the former site also played a key role in the establishment and expansion of the central village. The sourcing study of siliceous raw materials shows that Saint-Pierre-d’Autils was probably the first known village to have been part of the trade network for large tertiary flint blades produced in the mines of the Paris Basin, such as Jablines. The abundant data from Saint-Pierre-d’Autils make a major contribution to our understanding of the Neolithisation of north-western France along the Seine, a river that played an essential role in this migration.