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Technological variability during the Early Middle Palaeolithic in Western Europe. Reduction systems and predetermined products at the Bau de l'Aubesier and Payre (South-East France).

ABSTRACT: The study of the lithic assemblages of two French sites, the Bau de l'Aubesier and Payre, contributes new knowledge of the earliest Neanderthal techno-cultural variability. In this paper we present the results of a detailed technological analysis of Early Middle Palaeolithic lithic assemblages of MIS 8 and 7 age from the two sites, which are located on opposite sides of the Rhône Valley in the south-east of France. The MIS 9-7 period is considered in Europe to be a time of new behaviours, especially concerning lithic strategies. The shift from the Lower Palaeolithic to the Early Middle Palaeolithic is "classically" defined by an increase in the number of core technologies, including standardized ones, which are stabilized in the full Middle Palaeolithic (MIS 5-3), associated with the decline of the "Acheulean" biface. Applying a common technological approach to the analysis of the two assemblages highlights their technological variability with respect to reduction systems and end products. Differences between Payre and the Bau de l'Aubesier concerning raw material procurement and faunal exploitation only partially explain this multifaceted technological variability, which in our opinion also reflects the existence of distinct technological strategies within the same restricted geographic area, which are related to distinct traditions, site uses, and/or as yet unknown parameters.

SUBMITTER: Carmignani L

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5462386 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Technological variability during the Early Middle Palaeolithic in Western Europe. Reduction systems and predetermined products at the Bau de l'Aubesier and Payre (South-East France).

Carmignani Leonardo L Moncel Marie-Hélène MH Fernandes Paul P Wilson Lucy L

PloS one 20170607 6

The study of the lithic assemblages of two French sites, the Bau de l'Aubesier and Payre, contributes new knowledge of the earliest Neanderthal techno-cultural variability. In this paper we present the results of a detailed technological analysis of Early Middle Palaeolithic lithic assemblages of MIS 8 and 7 age from the two sites, which are located on opposite sides of the Rhône Valley in the south-east of France. The MIS 9-7 period is considered in Europe to be a time of new behaviours, especi ...[more]

PMID: 28591159

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Project description:At the Berlin INQUA Congress (1995) a working group, European Late Pleistocene Isotopic Stages 2 & 3: Humans, Their Ecology & Cultural Adaptations, was established under the direction of J. Renault-Miskovsky (Institut de Paléontologie humaine, Paris). One of the objectives was building a database of the human occupation of Europe during this period. The database has been enlarged and now includes Lower, Middle and Upper Palaeolithic sites connecting them to their environmental conditions and the available chronometric dating. From version 14 on, only sites with chronometric data were included. In this database we have collected the available radiometric data from literature and from other more restricted databases. We try to incorporate newly published chronometric dates, collected from all kind of available publications. Only dates older than 9500 uncalibrated BP, correlated with a "cultural" level obtained by scientific excavations of European (Asian Russian Federation included) Palaeolithic sites, have been included. The dates are complemented with information related to cultural remains, stratigraphic, sedimentologic and palaeontologic information within a Microsoft Access database. For colleagues mainly interested in a list of all chronometric dates an Microsoft Excel list (with no details) is available (Tab. 1). A file, containing all sites with known coordinates, that can be opened for immediate use in Google Earth is available as a *.kmz file. It will give the possibility to introduce (by file open) in Google Earth the whole site list in "My Places". The database, version 27 (first version was available in 2002), contains now 13,202 site forms, (most of them with their geographical coordinates), comprising 17,022 radiometric data: Conv. 14C and AMS 14C (13,144 items), TL (678 items), OSL (1050 items), ESR, Th/U and AAR (2150 items) from the Lower, Middle and Upper Palaeolithic. All 14C dates are conventional dates BP. This improved version 27 replaces the older version 26.

Project description:There appears to be little doubt as to the existence of an intentional technological resolve to produce convergent tools during the Middle Palaeolithic. However, the use of these pieces as pointed tools is still subject to debate: i.e., handheld tool vs. hafted tool. Present-day technological analysis has begun to apply new methodologies in order to quantify shape variability and to decipher the role of the morphology of these pieces in relation to function; for instance, geometric morphometric analyses have recently been applied with successful results. This paper presents a study of this type of analysis on 37 convergent tools from level Ga of Payre site (France), dated to MIS 8-7. These pieces are non-standardized knapping products produced by discoidal and orthogonal core technologies. Moreover, macro-wear studies attest to various activities on diverse materials with no evidence of hafting or projectile use. The aim of this paper is to test the geometric morphometric approach on non-standardized artefacts applying the Elliptical Fourier analysis (EFA) to 3D contours and to assess the potential relationship between size and shape, technology and function. This study is innovative in that it is the first time that this method, considered to be a valuable complement for describing technological and functional attributes, is applied to 3D contours of lithic products. Our results show that this methodology ensures a very good degree of accuracy in describing shape variations of the sharp edges of technologically non-standardized convergent tools. EFA on 3D contours indicates variations in deviations of the outline along the third dimension (i.e., dorso-ventrally) and yields quantitative and insightful information on the actual shape variations of tools. Several statistically significant relationships are found between shape variation and use-wear attributes, though the results emphasize the large variability of the shape of the convergent tools, which, in general, does not show a strong direct association with technological features and function. This is in good agreement with the technological context of this chronological period, characterized by a wide diversity of non-standardized tools adapted to multipurpose functions for varied subsistence activities.

Dataset Information

Technological variability during the Early Middle Palaeolithic in Western Europe. Reduction systems and predetermined products at the Bau de l'Aubesier and Payre (South-East France).

Publications

Technological variability during the Early Middle Palaeolithic in Western Europe. Reduction systems and predetermined products at the Bau de l'Aubesier and Payre (South-East France).

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