The Paleolithic site of Rozel, also called site of Pou, is a prehistoric site located in the commune of Rozel, in the department of Manche, Normandy.

The site, composed of several levels of Neanderthal land occupation, is dated to about 80,000 years ago. It revealed traces of occupation whose remains are very well preserved, including many footprints and handprints, as well as animal legs, which make it an exceptional site1 for the knowledge of this extinct species of the genus Homo in the Late Middle Palaeolithic.

The different levels of occupation, consisting of vegetated soils and sandy mudflows, have been preserved by successive layers of sand brought by the wind, which have fossilized the remains. The exceptional preservation of the site is also linked to the nature of the sediment, a sand more or less enriched with iron and manganese oxides, and, for some layers, carbonates. The site is dated on sediment by optically stimulated luminescence to about 80,000 years ago, i.e. the Late Middle Palaeolithic. In this region, the climate is then cool with a regime of precipitation sometimes sustained (rain and snow).

According to scientists, this Paleolithic site is the only one in the world, apart from the El Sidrón cave in Spain, to offer credible data on the composition and size of a Neanderthal social group. It is also a rich source in the field of paleoichnology. According to the researchers, the footprints were created by a dozen individuals who occupied this site in some years, between autumn and spring.

The Rozel site appears as a unique conservatory for the Middle Paleolithic period. Indeed, before 2019, only 9 footprints of Neanderthals had been identified elsewhere in Europe while the site presents more than 2000. Since then, others have been discovered, such as in 2020 near Huelva (Spain), where 87 Neanderthal footprints were unearthed on the beach of Matalascañas.