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{\rtf1\ansi\ansicpg1252\deff0\deflang2057{\fonttbl{\f0\fswiss\fprq2\fcharset0 Calibri;}{\f1\fnil\fcharset0 Verdana;}} \viewkind4\uc1\pard\f0\fs22 La vall\‘e9e du Rh\'f4ne, grand couloir de circulation Nord-Sud, lieu de passage entre l\rquote Europe du Nord et le monde m\'e9diterran\'e9en, a jou\'e9 un r\'f4le majeur dans le peuplement de toutes les gorges et vall\'e9es affluentes. Sa position charni\'e8re, entre le domaine temp\'e9r\'e9 continental \'e0 l\rquote Ouest (Massif-Central) et le domaine montagneux \'e0 l\rquote Est (Vercors et Alpes de Haute-Provence), explique son r\'f4le d\rquote enclave o\'f9 les microclimats ont favoris\'e9 la persistance des occupations humaines tout au long des p\'e9riodes glaciaires successives (apparition tardive du renne par exemple). Riche en cours d\rquote eau, gorges et plateaux calcaires renfermant de nombreux abris, cette r\'e9gion fut propice \'e0 l\rquote installation des hommes du Pal\'e9olithique. Elle concentre en effet un tr\'e8s grand nombre de sites moust\'e9riens, la plupart se trouvant en contexte karstique, sous la forme d\rquote abris-sous-roche et de porches de grottes. En ce qui concerne les sites \'e9tudi\'e9s dans ce travail, la plus grande partie est regroup\'e9e en Ard\'e8che m\'e9ridionale, excentrant au Nord le site de Payre (Ard\'e8che du Nord), et au Sud-Est le site des Peyrards (Vaucluse). Dans la partie aval des gorges se situent la grotte Saint-Marcel, l\rquote abri du Maras, la grotte du Figuier, le Ranc Pointu et la Baume d\rquote Oullens et, \'e0 quelques kilom\'e8tres \'e0 vol d\rquote oiseau, la Baume Flandin s\rquote ouvre dans un petit vallon du plateau d\rquote Orgnac, \'e0 la limite avec le d\'e9partement du Gard et enfin, plus au Nord, dans la Moyenne vall\'e9e de l\rquote Ard\'e8che, on trouve la grotte des Barasses (Balazuc). Le contexte chronologique de ces sites est le Pal\'e9olithique moyen, li\'e9, dans le Sud-Est, aux premi\'e8res grandes vagues de peuplements humains. Le peuplement qui nous int\'e9resse est donc celui de l\rquote homme de N\'e9anderthal, qui semble avoir occup\'e9 la r\'e9gion jusqu\rquote\'e0 la veille de l\rquote arriv\'e9e des premiers hommes modernes (Chauvet, intervalle de 32 000-30 000 BP pour les plus anciennes, Valladas \i et al.\i0 , \i in \i0 Clottes (Ed.), 2001). Les \'e9tudes arch\'e9ozoologique et taphonomique men\'e9es ici sur les assemblages osseux des petits, moyens et grands herbivores et quelquefois des Carnivores, permettent d\rquote analyser l\rquote\'e9tat de conservation des ossements et la part de responsabilit\'e9 des hommes et des Carnivores dans les d\'e9p\'f4ts et dans les modifications de surface, de restituer le contexte climatique, environnemental et chronologique existant lors des nombreuses venues des hommes gr\'e2ce \'e0 la diversit\'e9 des esp\'e8ces repr\'e9sent\'e9es, et enfin d\rquote aborder les strat\'e9gies de chasse et les habitudes alimentaires, concernant la mati\'e8re carn\'e9e, des groupes de N\'e9anderthaliens. Par-del\'e0 les in\'e9galit\'e9s, tant dans la repr\'e9sentativit\'e9 des s\'e9ries que dans les cadres environnementaux, il a \'e9t\'e9 possible de discerner trois grandes tendances dans leurs types d\rquote exploitation du milieu animal et de fait dans leurs modes d\rquote occupation des sites. Reste \'e0 savoir quelle a \'e9t\'e9 l\rquote emprise des contraintes environnementales, des pratiques culturelles et des crit\'e8res fonctionnels sur ces diff\'e9rents styles d\rquote approvisionnement.\par \par The Rh\'f4ne valley, a major north-south traffic corridor, a bridge between Northern Europe and the Mediterranean world, has played a major role in the settlement of all tributary valleys and gorges. Its pivotal position between temperate continental area to the West (Massif-Central) and the mountainous area to the East (Vercors and Alpes de Haute-Provence), explains its role as an enclave where microclimates have favoured the persistence of human occupations throughout the successive ice ages (late presence of reindeer, for example). Rich in rivers, gorges and plateaus containing many shelters, the region was favourable to the settling of Palaeolithic men. In fact, there is a concentration of a very large number of mousterian sites, most of them found in karst context in the form of shelters and porch caves. Regarding the sites studied in this work, most are concentrated in Southern Ard\'e8che, outlying to the north the site of Payre (Northern Ard\'e8che) and to the south-east the site of Peyrards (Vaucluse). In the downstream part of the gorges lie the Saint-Marcel, Figuier, Ranc Pointu and Oullens caves and the Maras shelter and a few miles as the crow flies, the Flandin site opens in a small valley on the Orgnac Plateau close to the department of Gard and finally, further north in the middle valley of the Ardeche is the Barasses cave (Balazuc). The chronological context of these sites is the Middle Palaeolithic, linked in the south-east to the first big waves of settlement. So the settlement that interests us is that of Neanderthal man, who appears to have occupied the region until the eve of the arrival of the first modern humans (Chauvet, interval 32000 -30 000 BP for the older, Valladas \i et al\i0 ,\i . in \i0 Clottes (Ed.), 2001). The zooarchaeological and taphonomical studies conducted here on the bones of small, medium and large herbivores and sometimes Carnivores, allow the analysis of the state of conservation of the bones and the part of the responsibility of men and Carnivores in the deposits, to restore the climate, environmental and chronological contexts existing during the many occupations of men and to address the hunting strategies and eating habits of neanderthals groups. Beyond inequality, both in the representativeness of the series and in environmental context, it has been possible to discern three broad trends in the types of their animal exploitation and in their tenures sites. It remains to be learned what could have been the influences of environmental, cultural practices and functional requirements on these different styles of supply.\par \f1\fs17\par }
