Les stratégies de débitage dans les industries lithiques archaïques des premiers habitants de l’Europe

Barranco León and Fuente Nueva 3 sites at Orce in the south of Spain, and Vallonnet cave in the south of France, are some of the oldest sites in Europe, testimonies of the first settlements of these territories. The Orce sites, dated around 1.3-1.2 Ma, have given away numerous lithic artifacts principally issued from an important débitage activity. The beginning of flake production processes is few represented into these two consummation sites. In return, full débitage flakes are in high proportion, with generally short dimensions, in consequence of which, in some case an intense core reduction. Two percussion methods are identified: with direct percussion or on anvil. Sometimes, there was débitage on flake, taking advantage of the inferior face natural convexity of the core-flake, permitting the maximal exploitation and the economy of the best raw materials. The bipolar percussion on anvil permitted the maximal exploitation of the short dimensions supports, often in naturally cubic or sub-cubic form. A lot of the producted flakes, sometimes called “pièces esquillées”, show some scales on the distal and/or proximal transversal edges, issued from this bipolar knapping method. In the Vallonnet cave, where the occupation levels are dated around 1 Ma, the lithic industry show a lot of percussion tools and hammerstone flakes, but also some core reduction flakes and some very rares cores, especially in flint. This good raw material was chosen for the débitage, and the flakes show on superior face several anterior removals, and a butt which could reveal a striking platform preparation. At the gates of Europe, in Georgia, Dmanisi site give away an abundant lithic industry associated with faunal and human remains, dated around 1.81 to 1.77 Ma. Amid the lithic assemblages, cores are rather frequent and are characterized by a poor degree of exploitation, most often unifacial, and high frequency of cortical striking platforms. Raw materials, essentially volcanic cobbles, were from local origin, and the knapped supports were often chosen for their angular morphology adequate to begin the débitage in easier way, débitage which was essentially by direct percussion.     

Les matières premières,la technologie lithique et les stratégies d’occupation dans le site du Pléistocène moyen de Covacha de los Zarpazos (gisement de Galería,Sierra de Atapuerca,Espagne)

Variability is one of the most debated topics in lithic technology studies. For the Middle Pleistocene period, this debate has specifically focused on the significance of large cutting tools such as handaxes and cleavers. This paper presents the stone tool assemblage from Covacha de los Zarpazos site, included in the Galería complex at Sierra de Atapuerca (Burgos, Spain). We analyse the management of lithic raw materials, the reduction sequences identified, and the morphological variation in the shape of large cutting tools. The results show that raw materials play an important role in the final variability of tool shape, although they do not represent any real constraint. However, what determines the main variability of a whole lithic assemblage is the occupation strategy and the specific activities carried out in a given site.     

L’industrie en calcaire du site Paléolithique d’Isernia la Pineta : un modèle interprétatif de stratégie comportementale

The studies and the researches carried out in the last years on the Palaeolithic site of Isernia La Pineta have brought to consider in new way the activities realized by the human group that lived the basin of Isernia during the Middle Pleistocene offering an important key of interpretation of the behavioural strategies of the prehistoric man. The analysis of the exploitation of the raw material has confirmed the presence on the site of two different lithotypes: flint and limestone; the lithological dichotomy is related to the functional dichotomy of the raw material that seems to have conditioned the activities of the human group in different areas of the site. The necessity to deepen the study on the limestone has derived from the evidence brought to light in the last excavation campaigns of a remarkable concentration of the flaked limestone pebbles and the flake scars in some areas of the explored archeosurfaces, particularly on the 3a and on the overlooking layers. The present study has the purpose to explain the characteristics of the limestone finds both in reference to the raw material and to its state of preservation both to the technotypological evidences and its spatial distribution with the purpose to better understand the modalities of the exploitation of the raw material. The information collected until today have permitted to obtain a precise knowledge of the environmental context and the territorial resources exploited by the human group showing an opportunistic capability to find the most advantageous behavioural solution for the necessities of subsistence.