Pages: 691
Publisher: Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris, 2024)
Language: French
Methodologies: Traceology; Use-wear Analysis
Periods: Upper Palaeolithic; Late Solutrean
Related Topics: Hide-working; Technical tradition; Ethnography
Link: hhttps://theses.fr/s220678
Abstract: Hide-working by prehistoric populations has been well documented since the development of functional studies in the 20th century. However, precise reconstructions of the chaînes opératoires are still often underexplored, especially for the Late Solutrean (ca. 24.5 ka-23 ka cal BP), which is the focus of this dissertation. This techno-complex has been studied so far mainly through its highly elaborate hunting equipment. For his dissertation, I carried out use-wear analyses on both bone and flint tools from Combe Saunière (Sarliac-sur-l’Isle), Cuzoul de Vers (Vers, Lot) and Landry (Boulazac, Dordogne). Following a synthesis of ethnographic data highlighting the diversity of tools that could be involved in hide-working, this cross-approach appears essential to reconstruct the chaîne opératoire as accurately as possible.
These reconstructions at each archaeological site of the corpus reveals certain recurrences in technical processes, sketching out the first features of a technical tradition specific to the Late Solutrean. Certain tools and gestures are associated with specific objectives corresponding to precise stages in the chaîne opératoire. Complementarities between the different tools involved have also been identified. Furthermore, we have observed variations from one assemblage to another, which can be related to the sites’ functions and duration of occupation. Finally, the precise characterization of the hide-working process reveals the need for planning operations and expertise, implying a significant technical and time investment in this activity.
In addition, this dissertation attempts to take the first steps towards a diachronic approach to hide-working throughout the Late Palaeolithic in France. By multiplying functional, spatial, micromorphological, and anthracological analyses, prehistorians should eventually be able to identify particular technical traditions that distinguish different groups of Paleolithic hunter-gatherers, while at the same time identifying predictable phenomena of continuity.
