Veldwezelt-Hezerwater

Veldwezelt-Hezerwater is a Palaeolithic archaeological site in the municipality of Lanaken in the province of Limburg, Belgium.

The successive archaeological excavation campaigns at Veldwezelt-Hezerwater, Belgium, provide important remains of at least five separate Middle Palaeolithic valley settlements, showing that Middle Palaeolithic humans were living and producing their tools at different times during the Late Saalian (late MIS 6), the late Last Interglacial s.l. (MIS 5a) and the Middle Weichselian (MIS 3).

The oldest occupation phases present at Veldwezelt-Hezerwater should be seen in relation to the Late Saalian rock-fall deposits. Just at the base of these rock-fall deposits, two non-Levallois flakes were found. The younger level (where a large flint core-chopping tool was found) is situated just at the top of the same rock-fall deposits.

At the "Lower Sites", the lithic assemblage at the base of the gravel-bed (GRA-Level 1) of a side-valley of the Hezerwater seems to have been influenced by recurrent Levallois debitage. Throughout the gravel-bed one sees the presence of non-Levallois flake industries (GRA-Level 2). The younger occupation phases at the "Lower-Sites", found in the VLL-VLB find horizons are characterised by non-Levallois flake and blade industries.

All the levels at the "Lower-Sites" at Veldwezelt-Hezerwater could be interpreted as Neanderthal surface flint extraction sites with the presence of several knapping workshops. It is still difficult to say something about the absolute chronology of the VLL-Site and the VLB-Site. However, on stratigraphic grounds, we think that it is safe to say that they should be dated to the Late Saalian Zeifen Interstadial (MIS 6.01). This hypothesis is supported by the presence of charcoal (Pinus silvestris), which suggests that the climate during this Pre-Eemian occupation stage was temperate.

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