The Last Pleniglacial in the Paris Basin (22500-17000 BP)

The Paris Basin, a region of plains and plateaus, constitutes the largest part of northern France and includes the Seine, Somme, and the central Loire basins. This region is delimited by ancient mountains which are separated by wide depressions; it measures about 580 km from the Massif Armoricain in the west to the Vosges mountains in the east, and 480 km from the Massif Central in the south to the Ardennes in the northeast. Tertiary Ile-de-France deposits which surround Paris form the centre of this sedimentary basin. Secondary strata outcrops encircle the basin and those furthest inland form the chalky substrates of Picardie, Pays de Caux, Touraine and Champagne ( Abrard 1950 ) ( Fig. 2.1 ) The basin was considerably larger in size during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) when sea-levels were at their lowest (some 100 m below their level today) and France and Great Britain were joined. This vast area offered very different latitudinal environments to human groups. In the southern karst zone, found principally south of the Loire, Palaeolithic groups lived in caves and rockshelters, possibly under similar mild conditions as groups in the Dordogne and Vézère. Climatic conditions were far more rigorous in the north, where strong winds continuously deposited loess and where, apparently, great expanses of land were unoccupied until the Late Glacial.