The earliest knappers were required to master the fundamental parameters of stone knapping in order to overcome the constraints imposed by raw materials. Only from the Acheulean period onward they were able to achieve the degree of technical freedom and skill necessary for any form of aesthetic expression. On the African continent, the adoption by Homo erectus of percussion using an organic hammer for shaping large cutting tools is attested as early as one million years ago. Thus, at the Isenya site in Kenya, alongside a few perfectly spherical quartz bolas produced by pecking and a large number of remarkably well-balanced phonolite handaxes systematically shaped using a soft organic hammer, a refined aesthetic finish is also observed on a small number of cleavers. This is expressed through balanced proportions, regular contours, and straight edges, while the terminal bevel-considered the specific functional attribute of this tool-remains unchanged. During the Late Pleistocene in Western Europe, the Solutrean Volgu points, exceptional in both size and finesse and the result of a very long reduction and shaping process as demonstrated by experimental replicas, represent a combination of technical achievement, aesthetics, and symbolism. They are impractical, although derived from functional forms inspired by laurel-leaf tools. Similarly, during the Egyptian Predynastic period and the Classic Maya period in Central America, the creation of unique stone objects required a series of complex operations combining multiple knapping techniques practiced at the highest level. These productions, based on exceptional expertise, resulted in objects of strong symbolic significance. The maintenance, modification, or complete loss of the dynamic function of technically complex lithic artifacts thus appears to define the threshold between aesthetic awareness and true artistic expression.

A growing body of archaeological data points towards distinct cultural innovations during Marine Isotopic Stage (MIS) 5 in Africa. At Bushman Rock Shelter in South Africa, we described previously a large corpus of end-scrapers that constitute a technological novelty in the context of MIS 5 developments. Here, we describe 25 bones with impressions collected from the same deposits. Middle Stone Age layers at the site represent a succession of distinct technological phases, but the bones with impressions are strictly associated with one of them only, characterised by the presence of end-scrapers. Our refined optically stimulated luminescence and U-series chronology, presented here, dates securely this technological association to 103 ± 3 ka. Amongst the bones with impressions, there is a marked preference for the diaphyses of large ungulate long bones. Scraping marks linked to periosteum removal and evidence of fresh breakage indicate the use of bones while still fresh. Macro- and microscopic characteristics of the used areas confirm that the bones were used during percussive activities. The orientation of the bone surface modifications indicates repeated, similar technological gestures. We propose that these bones with impressions are bone retouchers that were fully integrated into the production of the end-scrapers and that they document a clear technological imbrication between the processing of animal resources and the manufacture and use of stone tools. We argue that the use of bones in lithic retouching or resharpening activities represents a critical step in the technological process that led to the exploitation of bone as a versatile raw material by hunter-gatherers.

We analyze two technically sophisticated stone points dated between 15,580 and 14,319 cal. BP discovered at the open-air site of Mitshakila, Democratic Republic of Congo, combining diacritic analysis, experimentation, and traditional morphometrics. Diacritical analysis is applied following techno-functional (also called "morphostructural") and productional approaches. An experimental corpus consisting of pieces produced by both a knapper from northeastern Angola in the 1950s and two lithic specialists aims at improving the identification of techniques. Finally, traditional morphometrics is used to compare Mitshakila points with several shaped points from the Late Pleistocene of sub-Saharan Africa including Tshitolian, Lupemban or Still Bay points among others. At Mitshakila, we report an early occurrence of the well-mastered use of pressure technique, "scarf-shaped" retouch (also called "ripple-flake" retouch or in French "retouche en echarpe") and proximo-lateral short shoulders. Its presence at Mitshakila marks an important technical shift during the Final Pleistocene in the Congo Basin.

The study of Neanderthal-Environment interactions very often lacks precise data that match the chrono-geographical frame of human activities. Here, we reconstruct Neanderthals’ hunting grounds within three distinct habitats using dental microwear analysis combined with zooarchaeological data. The predation patterns toward ungulates are discussed in term of frequency (NISP/MNI) and potential meat intake (MAM). Unit IIIa of Teixoneres Cave (MIS 3, NE Spain) corresponds to a mosaic landscape, Unit IIIb was more forested, and, in the “Ensemble” II of Pié Lombard (MIS 4, SE France), forest cover dominated. At Pié Lombard, Neanderthals rely on a high diversity of taxa from closed and semi-open hunting grounds, mostly two ungulate species as well as rabbits and several bird taxa. At Teixoneres Cave, mainly open areas are exploited in summer with a predation mostly focused on large gregarious ungulates. The larger size of ungulate herds in open spaces may have allowed Neanderthals to restrict their subsistence behaviour only to very few species, in specific hunting strategies. In Unit IIIa, they do not appear to have made any selection within the most abundant species, while in Unit IIIb, they focused on aurochs and also opportunistically and heavily on newborn red deer. Neanderthal subsistence strategies seem, therefore, only partially linked to the hunting grounds they had access to. While it impacted the diversity of the prey they selected, Neanderthal groups were able to develop distinct hunting strategies within similar environments.

Cervids, and especially the red deer Cervus elaphus , are among the most regularly and abundantly recorded ungulates in Pleistocene/Paleolithic bone assemblages. Numerous Pleistocene or Holocene subspecies have been described, reinforcing their status as essential proxies for environmental and chronological reconstructions. Despite this, at the beginning of the Late Pleistocene, their diversity seems to have decreased. In this study, we analysed teeth and some postcranial elements of Cervus and Capreolus from north-eastern Iberia and south-eastern France to clarify their morphological characteristics and ecological adaptations. We describe a transitional form in north-eastern Iberia between the western European stock and the current form C. e. hispanicus . Such sub-speciation processes are connected to biogeographical factors, as there were limited exchanges between north-eastern Iberia and the northern Pyrenees, whereas the north-western part of the peninsula seems more connected to the northern Pyrenees. The anatomical plasticity (morpho-functional adaptation and body size) of red deer is connected to dietary flexibility (dental meso- and microwear). Conversely, Capreolus shows greater morphological and ecological homogeneity. Body size variations seem directly correlated with their ability to browse throughout the year. The marked differences between the eco-bio-geographical responses of the two taxa can be explained by their habitat selection.

Cette contribution a pour objet de retranscrire l'histoire du site paléolithique de La Balutie (Montignac-Lascaux, Dordogne, France). L'histoire de ce site très tôt oublié, n'est ni sensationnelle, ni exceptionnelle, mais s'avère retranscrire l'atmosphère caractérisant les débuts des explorations des gisements préhistoriques de Dordogne. On y retrouve de grands noms de la Préhistoire de Dordogne qui n'ont légué que peu d'écrits sur le site, du mobilier trié (surtout lithique) du Paléolithique moyen et supérieur qui a alimenté de nombreuses collections privées avant d'être dispersé au sein de diverses institutions, et un contexte local compliqué et agrémenté de conflits. Notre connaissance de La Balutie, ponctuée de nombreuses lacunes tant temporelles que factuelles, est à l'image de nombreux autres sites régionaux, qui ont été fouillés très (trop) tôt et qui pour autant ont participé à l'essor des recherches préhistoriques.

The site of Nyabusosi 18 (NY18), Uganda, is among the westernmost Early Pleistocene archaeological occurrences in the Rift Valley. The site is dated by tephrochronology to c. 1.5 Ma and was initially attributed to the Oldowan techno-complex. The lithic assemblage is mainly composed of small flakes and cores with very few retouched pieces and vein quartz is the dominant raw material. However, it is accepted that NY18 displayed an important quantity of "prepared cores". After providing the current definition of Prepared Core Technology (PCT), we present a detailed methodology combining qualitative and quantitative analyses. Qualitative technology is based on diacritical sketches and knappers' gesture analysis whereas quantitative approach relies on the univariate and multivariate analyses of morphometrical patterns of the PCT remains. The results show that several concepts such as bifaciality, surface hierarchy and recurrence characterize the PCT at NY18. However, the intensity of the core blank preparation is highly variable and the "guiding-arrises" from the flaking surfaces are poorly used. This appears to impact on the PCT flakes morphology. The PCT flakes are particularly thin in profile view when compared with other flakes from NY18. However, we argue that their outline and elongation is uncontrolled. We revise the previous affiliation of NY18 to the Oldowan and we discuss PCT in the context of the Early Pleistocene, a threshold period for the evolution of human technologies. We suggest that PCTs are Early Pleistocene technical inventions sub-contemporaneous with other major technical changes in Africa, such as large flake production and bifacial shaping that mark the emergence and development of the Acheulean from 1.7 Ma.

In southern Africa, key technologies and symbolic behaviors develop as early as the later Middle Stone Age in MIS5. These innovations arise independently in various places, contexts and forms, until their full expression during the Still Bay and the Howiesons Poort. The Middle Stone Age sequence from Diepkloof Rock Shelter, on the West Coast of the region, preserves archaeological proxies that help unravelling the cultural processes at work. This unit yields one of the oldest abstract engraving so far discovered in Africa, in the form of a rhomboid marking on the cortical surface of an ungulate long bone shaft. The comprehensive analysis of the lithic artefacts and ochre pieces found in association with the engraved bone documents the transport of rocks over long distance (>20km), the heat treatment of silcrete, the coexistence of seven lithic reduction strategies (including the production of bladelets and the manufacture of unifacial and bifacial points), the use of adhesives and the processing of ochre. At Diepkloof, the appearance of engraving practices take place in a context that demonstrates a shift in rock procurement and a diversification in lithic reduction strategies, suggesting that these behavioral practices acted as a cultural answer to cope with new environmental and/or socio-economic circumstances. We argue that the innovations later found during the Still Bay and the Howiesons Poort were already in the making during the MIS5 pre-Still Bay, though not all the benefits were yet taken advantage of by the populations.

The La Combette rock-shelter, located in the Luberon mountains (Southern France), is an essential local archaeological discovery. The site comprises several Palaeolithic layers suggesting multiple phases of Mousterian occupation. The sediment sequence of c. 7 m thickness indicates rapid changes in the environmental conditions, which led to an abandonment of the site. While the first chronological studies were carried out in the late 1990s, in 2014, new sediment samples were taken for state-of-the-art luminescence-dating analyses using fine grain (4-11 µm) quartz and polymineral separates. Samples were taken from the loess-dominated upper archaeological levels A to D (upper main unit) as well as from the anthropogenic layer E, embedded in a fluvial context, and from the bottom deposits of the layer F/G. Here we present the obtained chronological dataset in conjunction with 24 so far unpublished thermoluminescence dating results from burnt flint artefacts from layers E and F/G. We combine and discuss our results against previous chronological datasets, which seem to be broadly confirmed by our new findings framing the sedimentation history of La Combette at 78.3 ka to 39.4 ka. In summary, it appears that the local environmental conditions were deeply impacted by the climatic changes during MIS 4/3. This caused rapid sediment influx that finally rendered the rock shelter uninhabitable as a potential refuge, until its re-discovery in the second half of the 20th century.

During the Last Interglacial-Early Glacial transition (MISS-MIS4; similar to 73 ka), substantial hydroclimatic changes affected morphogenetic processes, landform dynamics, and ecosystem variability over the Mediterranean subalpine valleys. This transition is mainly preserved in the northern Mediterranean region in continuous marine, lacustrine, and peat bog archives. To understand better local-to-regional hydro-sedimentary processes, their climatic significance, and their direct impact on prehistoric settlements, this manuscript reinvestigates a known continental sedimentary record with revised methods. The Middle Palaeolithic site of La Combette in the western Provence region (southeastern France) presents a thick sedimentary key sequence for studying environmental changes from the MISS to the MIS3. A review of previous studies with the integration of new micromorphological, sedimentological, physicochemical, malacological, and luminescence ages allows us to characterize the sedimentary processes and environmental patterns during this major climatic transition. Alternating warm and cold conditions and shifting vegetation patterns reflect the strong environmental instability of the end of the Last Interglacial Period. The emergence of a steppe-like ecology dominated by cryo-turbated loess deposition marks the beginning of the Early Wurmian Glacial period (MIS4-MIS3; similar to 73 ka to similar to 50 ka), contemporaneous with the last Neanderthal occupation at La Combette rock shelter. Comparisons with regional palaeoclimatic data allow us to detail local climatic settings and provide evidence of divergences with larger-scale quantitative reconstructions during a period of significant environmental and socio-cultural shifts.

Polyhedrons, spheroids and bolas are enigmatic cubic to rounded stone objects present in lithic series since the Lower Pleistocene. These objects are considered both as final phase nuclei or firing pins and many other more or less fanciful hypotheses have been proposed in the past. Most of these attributions have never been demonstrated. These objects are frequent in Africa and present in Asia since the Acheulean but are much rarer in Europe. Artifacts with same shape are also known in recent archaeological and ethnographic contexts in America. The aim of the project is to identify the characteristics that make it possible to determine the methods of manufacture and use of these objects. The question will be addressed by mobilizing a broad comparative approach, including recent archaeological, ethnographic and experimental data through 1) the realization of an ethnoarchaeological synthesis, 2) a reconstitution, through experimental archaeology and wear analysis, of the mode of manufacture and possible forms of use, 3) an analysis of archaeological material from the Lower Palaeolithic in Europe and Africa. The results of the archaeological, experimental, wear analysis and ethnographic study of polyhedrons, spheroids and bolas will make it possible to propose new hypotheses on the role and the method of manufacture of these enigmatic objects abandoned in prehistoric sites. It will also fuel debates on the presence of apparently identical objects in archaeological records that are distant in time and space and discuss the question of objects from independent local histories made by different hominids or objects migrating with populations and adapting to the new needs of these populations. These lithic objects can indeed be considered as trace that can help to identify the possible dispersion of human groups and/or traditions in Eurasia. They can also be vectors for identifying the modes of adaptation of populations to varied (mineral and vegetal) or new environments, inducing the loss of certain elements of the toolbox or a reorientation of manufacturing methods according to needs and available materials.

Les nouvelles fouilles entreprises depuis 2014 dans l'abri inférieur du Moustier ont permis d'accéder à une partie des dépôts du remplissage et d'en établir la lithostratigraphie. Organisés en petites séquences successives, ils résultent d'une alternance de phases sédimentaires. Les unes sont dominées par le ruissellement associé à une éboulisation faible à modérée ainsi qu'à une bioturbation plus ou moins active. Les autres correspondent à de brefs épisodes d'inondation de la Vézère qui, néanmoins, ont eu un impact notable sur la sédimentogenèse et, sans doute, sur l'organisation ainsi que sur la distribution des vestiges archéologiques. Un réexamen des données recueillies par nos prédécesseurs permet de penser que ces processus de formation s'appliquent probablement à toute la partie supérieure du remplissage (i.e. couches G à K de Peyrony).Considérant la totalité de la série stratigraphique, on constate qu'elle constitue une séquence témoignant de l'évolution du milieu de sédimentation d'un pôle exclusivement fluviatile vers un pôle où les processus fluviatiles n'interviennent plus qu'épisodiquement. Elle comprend en effet à la base des dépôts générés dans un chenal d'écoulement (couches A à D de Peyrony), puis des dépôts de débordement mis en place dans une plaine d'inondation (couche E et F) et, enfin, des dépôts principalement liés à des phénomènes subaériens (couches G à K).Les dates actuellement disponibles placent les couches G à K au sein du SIO 3, tandis que les couches A à F pourraient s'être mises en place vers la fin du Dernier Interglaciaire (SIO 5a ?).Un essai de reconstitution de l'évolution du système géomorphologique « abri du Moustier / vallée de la Vézère » est également proposé.

Within the animal kingdom, carnivores occupied a unique place in prehistoric societies. At times predators or competitors for resources and shelters, anthropogenic traces of their exploitation, often for non-nutritional purposes, permeate the archaeological record. Scarce but spectacular depictions in Palaeolithic art confirm peoples' fascination with carnivores. In contrast with the European record, research on hominin/carnivore interactions in Africa has primarily revolved around the hunting or scavenging debate amongst early hominins. As such, the available information on the role of carnivores in Anatomically Modern Humans' economic and cultural systems is limited. Here, we illustrate a particular relationship between humans and carnivores during the MIS5-4 Still Bay and Howiesons Poort techno-complexes at Diepkloof Rock Shelter, South Africa. The recovery of numerous felid remains, including cut-marked phalanges, tarsals and metapodials, constitutes direct evidence for carnivore skinning and, presumably, pelt use in the southern African Middle Stone Age. Carnivore exploitation at the site seems to have focused specifically on nocturnal, solitary and dangerous felines. The lines of evidence presented here suggest the capture and fur use of those felines in the context of highly codified and symbolically loaded cultural traditions.

The exploitation of small game, especially rabbits, by Neandertals as sources of food or for utilitarian purposes is no longer a subject of debate given increasing evidence for such practices in Europe from the Middle Paleolithic onwards. Instead, focus is now on whether rabbits were an occasional prey or were fully integrated into the socio-economic system of these human groups. Here we address this issue based on a detailed analysis of rabbit remains from the Mousterian deposits of Pié Lombard (Tourrettes-sur-Loup, Alpes-Maritimes, France). Dated to the last interglacial period (Marine Isotope Stage 5), rabbit remains (Oryctolagus cuniculus) are the most abundant species throughout the site's Mousterian sequence. Our multi-aspect taphonomical analysis combining mortality profiles, skeletal-part representation, breakage patterns, and bone surface modifications revealed a high incidence of human involvement, demonstrating the rabbit assemblage from Pié Lombard to have been primarily accumulated by Neandertals. Multiple lines of evidence indicate a recurrent and optimised exploitation of carcasses directly on the site, both as sources of meat (preferentially eaten roasted) and marrow as well as for their pelts, which appear to have been transported away from the site. The high frequency of rabbits in the Pié Lombard Mousterian assemblage, comprising at least 225 individuals, is unique for this period and probably reflects the location and function of the rock-shelter. The capture of such a hight number of this small mammal potentially required sophisticated acquisition techniques formerly known only from Upper Palaeolithic contexts. Finally, our results shed new light on the subsistence practices, settlement systems and socio-economic behavior of Neandertals in Western Europe during MIS 5.

Un des enjeux majeurs de l'archéologie paléolithique reste la compréhension des processus, naturels comme anthropiques, qui participent à la formation de palimpsestes archéologiques. Un bon nombre de sites du Paléolithique moyen français se caractérise par de tels palimpsestes, constitués d'importantes accumulations de vestiges lithiques et fauniques, dont les variations de densité et de proportions relatives sont souvent difficiles à interpréter. Cet article a pour objectif d'apporter des éléments de discussion concernant l'interprétation des variations de densité en vestiges archéologiques et des proportions inter-matériaux à l'intérieur de certains des niveaux archéologiques identifiés lors de la reprise des fouilles à l'abri inférieur du Moustier. Une analyse spatiale et taphonomique a donc été mise en œuvre afin d'accéder aux modalités de la formation de ces nappes de vestiges. Les résultats de l'étude géo-archéologique ont justifié le choix d'un certain nombre d'outils analytiques : calculs de densité en matériel archéologique et des proportions entre matériaux, granulométrie des vestiges lithiques, analyse de la fabrique des vestiges, étude des états de surface du matériel lithique et analyse spatiale des raccords. Les résultats obtenus montrent que l'organisation et la composition finale des nappes de vestiges sont inféodées aux processus géologiques qui sont intervenus dans le site, i.e. processus fluviatiles, ruissellement et éboulisation des parois de l'abri. Cependant, la composition des ensembles lithiques ne semble pas avoir été significativement modifiée par les processus de formation du site, en autorisant ainsi une analyse techno-économique. En revanche, la composition des ensembles fauniques (notamment les proportions os brûlés/non brûlés et os compact/os spongieux) pourrait avoir été affectée.

On the western side of the Turkana basin, the sedimentological members of the Nachukui Formation expose a unique succession of archaeological site complexes ranging from 0.7 to 3.3 Ma. Following the analysis of the oldest and most remarkable lithic assemblages, we propose a model clarifying the chronology and possible operative modes of the first stone knappers; the technological components which around 1.76 Ma led to a new method in stone working: shaping. It appears that they gradually substituted newly mastered technical advances for the initial selection of blocks or cobbles naturally displaying a suitable shape. The alternating of conceptual advances, first concretized in the appropriate selection of natural block shapes, then in major technical innovations, seems to have been the rhythm of a very slow and hesitant tempo, leading to the formalization of the oldest Acheulean lithic assemblages then to a new technological world from 1.0 Ma.

The site of Le Flageolet (Bézenac, Dordogne) contains two rock shelters excavated between 1966 and 1993. Le Flageolet I, the subject of this paper, opens to the west. On the bedrock, a first lithostratigraphic unit yielded three Aurignacian archaeostrata in a mass of very large blocks that collapsed before or during the earliest human occupations. A second overlying lithostratum contained at least six Gravettian archaeostrata. Due to the complexity of this archaeostratigraphy, we conceived and applied a method of excavation based on the three-dimensional recording of all artefacts with a maximum dimension over 1.5 cm, the use of artefact drawings at a scale of 1/5, and feature distributions, and the concomitant production of narrow vertical artefact projections along various frontal and sagittal axes. This method allowed for tight control over the definition and integrity of artefact levels. Analyses of the resulting assemblages show that the traditional regional cultural "markers" do not have the unambiguous chronological significance attributed to them in the past based on interpretations from excavations at La Ferrassie, Pataud, Caminade, and Roc-de-Combe. The large ungulate mammal biostratigraphy enabled us to chronologically position all the Aurignacian and Gravettian faunal assemblages from Le Flageolet I in relation to those from other Aquitaine sites; the faunal remains allow for the identification of particular environmental conditions that may be considered as "key events," marking certain specific periods during the development of the Aurignacian-Gravettian sequence. Based on radiocarbon ages, several major Aquitaine sites, including Le Flageolet I, have been situated on the NGRIP climatic curve, thereby providing a chronological context independent of stone tool technology and typology. Based on all of this, a chronological-cultural model can be proposed that considers functional variation as an important influence on Aurignacian and Gravettian assemblage composition at Le Flageolet I and elsewhere. Since 1982, numerous publications on Le Flageolet I have contributed to a lively debate on the Western European Early Upper Palaeolithic. This paper addresses some recently expressed criticisms.

This paper reports on geoarchaeological work conducted at the site of Isturitz during the 1996-1997 and the 2000-2005 excavations. The study of geomorphological context and sedimentary deposits both outside and inside the karstic block permit the main evolutionary phases to be described.The karstic system comprises three stepped levels, which are linked to downcutting stages of the Arberoue valley. Special attention has been paid to the upper level of the karstic system, i.e. the Saint-Martin-Isturitz level, in which excavations were conducted. Here, sedimentation was initially associated with high-energy flows (torrentially-flowing river followed by an intermittently active underground stream), and later by runoff and rockfall processes. In the upper part of the karstic filling, a sedimentary hiatus, contemporaneous with a very cold phase of OIS 2, has been identified in the rockfall deposits. This climatic episode is characterized by a cryosol that has notably deformed former sedimentary levels. The sequence ends with a flowstone that accumulated during the Holocene.The Proto-Aurignacian and Aurignacian levels are buried in runoff and rockfall deposits of the upper part of the fill. They were the focus of a detailed taphonomic study, which demonstrated that 1) freezing has had only minor effects on preservation of these levels compared to the role played by runoff, 2) the presence of artefacts in unit II is the result of reworking processes and, 3) archaeological levels identified in unit III represent either sets of reworked pieces or intact artefact assemblages admitting the assumption of a good preservation. Implications of this study are discussed and it is suggested that refitting analyses should be performed to confirm the site's proposed archaeostratigraphic sequence.