Comportements de subsistance au Paléolithique supérieur en Crimée : analyse archéozoologique des couches 6-2, 6-1 et 5-2 de Buran-Kaya III

The rockshelter of Buran-Kaya III (Crimea), found in 1990 by A. Yanevich, presents an exceptional stratigraphic sequence ranging from the Middle Palaeolithic to the Neolithic. The cultural layers yielded abundant assemblages of lithic and bone industries, personal adornments and mobiliary art, several ones made of mammoth ivory. We present here the results of zooarchaeological analyses of the large mammal remains from layers 6-2, 6-1 and 5-2, attributed to Gravettian sensu lato, and their interpretation in terms of subsistence behaviours, by comparing the three assemblages. The faunal composition of the three layers is rather homogeneous. The site settlements seem mainly related to the acquisition and treatment activities of small and middle-sized mammals, especially saiga antelope in summer, and large-sized mammals, in winter in 6-1 and maybe also in 5-2. During Gravettian, Buran-Kaya III was repeatedly used as a butchery or short-termed camp-site, probably in summer for hunts of saiga antelope.     

Gravettian ivory ornaments in Central Europe,Moravia (Czech Republic)

In the sense of the gravettian technocomplex of Central Europe in Moravia it is mammoth ivory which was mainly used to manufacture and create personal ornaments. The hunters and gatherers selected and stored mammoth tusks as the raw material for the manufacture of tools, weapons, furniture and ornaments. In Moravia, personal ornaments were found in a great variability of forms and sizes – mostly beads like breast-shaped beads, bilobated beads, bilobated flat beads, tear drop shaped beads and round ornaments – rings, bracelets, discs as well as flat elements – diadems and other pendants (zoomorphs, antropomorphs, geometric forms). Some types of personal ornaments show equivalent forms at other gravettian sites and some are unique in Moravia. This article illustrates the variability of these personal ornaments in the context of the Gravettian in Moravia.     

Les statuettes féminines en ivoire des faciès gravettiens et post-gravettiens en Europe centrale et orientale : modes de fabrication et de représentation

During the Upper Palaeolithic, especially in Gravettian times, the hunter-gatherer societies had an economy closely linked with the exploitation of two local species in Eastern Europe: reindeer and woolly mammoth. The ivory objects are rich archives about their ways of life and their collective imagination, as in particular the ivory female statuettes show. These figurines, also called “Venus”, are one of the cultural characteristics of the Gravettian sites. To date, although they are more numerous in Eastern Europe, they were discovered, in a variable number, also in site of Central and Western Europe; today, we have no clue that this cultural tradition crossed the Pyrenees. The corpus of pieces from the Gravettian sites of the Russian Plain (dated between 25,000 and 21,000 B.P.) is the more informative about technological know-how of the Gravettian craftsmen. He consists in the leading material of this paper, completed with some data about Epigravettian and Magdalenian statuettes. Whereas the Gravettian figurines show figurative female representations, those of the later cultural facies are more stylized. In a technological point of view, there is a close link between the choice of blanks within the mammoth tusk and the morphology of the statuettes, whatever the period of time considered.     

La cabane no 1 de Mezine : une référence pour l’architecture des cabanes en os de mammouths

The mammoth bone dwelling n^o 1 of the site of Mezine, excavated and dismantled in 1954–55 by I. Chovkoplass, is an emblematic and historical reference for the discovery of palaeolithic dwelling structures and in particular mammoth bone dwellings of Eastern Europe. It was the subject of synthetic publications by I. Chovkoplass (1965) and I. Pidoplichko (1969) and a reconstruction at the Museum of Zoology in Kiev. The dwelling n^o 1 is revised here directly from the excavation documents archived at the Institute of Archaeology NAS Ukraine. The consequences of its collapse, following its abandonment, on the spatial distribution of the mammoth bones are highlighted. The principles of its architecture are specified. And the hypotheses of elevation reconstruction are discussed in light of recent excavations of other sites with mammoth bone dwellings.     

Assessing the Gravettian occupation floor at Krems-Wachtberg

Ten years of excavations at the open-air site Krems-Wachtberg in east Austria have revealed the well-preserved remains of a Gravettian occupation floor with a range of intact evident structures. Most important of these are a large hearth with associated pits and two burials, a double and a single burial of infants. These are connected by a distinct archaeological layer evidencing the structures’ contemporaneity as well as functional interrelations. The occupation floor and its find inventories reflect a high diversity of activities and illustrate distinct spatial distributions. Despite the excellent preservation, however, an unambiguous determination of the site's function remains difficult.     

Les occupations gravettiennes de Buran-Kaya III (Crimée) : contexte archéologique

Buran-Kaya III (Crimea, Ukraine) is a unique site, with a stratigraphy from Middle to Final Palaeolithic. The Gravettian layers 5-2, 6-1 and 6-2 of this site yielded numerous lithic and bone industries, ornaments from marine and freshwater shells, mammal teeth and mammoth ivory, human fossils and abundant faunal remains. Аccording to the stylistic indications of the lithic and bone inventories, the settlements of layers 5-2, 6-1 and 6-2 of Buran-Kaya III represent local variants of the Gravettian in Crimea and in mainland Ukraine and, therefore, the existence of separately social communities. Conversely, ornament objects and human remains (with specific mortuary practices) of Buran-Kaya III may suggest extensive social contacts of its Gravettian inhabitants with other human populations from mainland Ukraine. These hypotheses make necessary future investigations about the social organisation of the Epigravettian societies in Eastern Europe.     

Le Gravettien et l’Épigravettien de l’Est de la Roumanie : une réévaluation

Opening towards the eastern steppe landmass, the Eastern Romania area covers 87,500 km², and shelters the biggest number of Gravettian and Epigravettian sites currently known. Archaeological researches in the area expanded in the 1950's, during the construction of dams on the Prut and Bistrița valleys. The efforts of the multidisciplinary teams involved and the subsequently published papers highlighted the archaeological potential of the region and, with some inevitable interruptions, investigations continued to this day. Although the time and resources spent were not modest, the outcomes regarding the Upper Palaeolithic cultural sequence often proved contradictory and somehow distant from the general European cultural dynamic. Thus, this reassessment tries to put the chronological, palaeoenvironmental, and empirical data in a more coherent framework. A synthesis of the available Gravettian and Epigravettian data east of the Carpathians reveals the following sequence: (1) an Aurignacian stage on the Prut Valley, paralleled by an indefinite Upper Palaeolithic stage, from sites on the Bistrița Valley, between 31 and 28 ka (uncal BP); (2) a quite early Gravettian presence, roughly between 27 and 25.5 ka, which includes backed laminar blanks, schematic decoration of one pendant, and the use of perforated shells as adornments; (3) a scant shouldered points stage, chronologically close to the European similar phases (25–23 ka), for which the feeble use of obsidian points toward contacts with Central European resources/populations; (4) a Gravettian/Epigravettian interface, between 21 and 19 ka, manifested within numerous archaeological layers, mainly through an increase in bladelets and organic artefacts production/use; (5) an Epigravettian stage, between 18 and 16 ka, largely defined through an upturn in raw material choices, backed implements production, and tool types; (6) one last, roughly 14 ka old Epigravettian stage, in which the technological choices recalled those of the previous one. Regional variability elements and radiocarbon chronology limitations considered, apparently, the Gravettian and the Epigravettian of Eastern Romania share quite a lot of traits with the corresponding Central and Eastern European technocomplexes.     

Le Gravettien ancien d’Europe centrale revisité : mise au point et perspectives

Focusing on central Europe, the present article aims at appraising the unity of the lithic technical systems related to the early Gravettian of the Swabian Jura and Lower Austria, generally treated as distinct cultural entities. Until recently, our knowledge of the Swabian Gravettian was known only through partial studies. Furthermore, according to the ¹⁴C dates available until the mid-nineties, the Swabian Gravettian tended to be attributed to a recent phase of this techno-complex, in contrast to the first manifestations of the Gravettian in the Middle Danube region. However, in the light of the new ¹⁴C dates, it appears today that the Swabian Gravettian doubtlessly belongs to the early stage of this techno-complex, in that comparable with the Gravettian of Weinberghöhlen in Bavaria or the early Gravettian of Willendorf II in Lower Austria. Our comparative study, integrating both typology and technology, deals with two reference sites with regard to the appearance and evolution of the Gravettian in Central Europe, Geißenklösterle and Willendorf II. The present study is a contribution to integrate the early stage of the Gravettian of this part of Europe in a broader discussion concerning the emergence of the generic cultural features of the Gravettian in its socioeconomical and cultural dimension, if we wish to progress in our understanding of what matters in the transition from the Aurignacian to the Gravettian.     

Relecture d’un modèle architectural du III millénaire provençal : l’Habitation n 1 du Collet-Redon à La Couronne (Martigues, Bouches-du-Rhône)

The open-air site of Collet-Redon (Martigues, Bouches-du-Rhône) was discovered in the 1940s, and excavated by M. Escalon de Fonton until the beginning of 1980s. Those pioneering works gave up important series of artefacts and domestic structures of Late Neolithic and Bronze Age that permit to define a new Neolithic culture: the Couronnien group. The importance of this establishment, as a reference in research on Late Neolithic period in South of France, is particularly based on built remains revealed in a sector called “Habitation no. 1”. Quantity and quality of architectural structures allowed M. Escalon de Fonton to describe a Neolithic domestic unit, which became a model for interpreting other regional sites. Since 1999, various studies of artefacts and structures, coupled with an excavation, have been engaged in order to discuss first interpretations. The purpose of this article is to present our results concerning architectural remains of “Habitation no. 1” sector. Study of ancient publications and new observations on structures permit us to suggest a revision of the plan proposed for this third millenary construction.     

40 Years of Excavations at Mitoc–Malu Galben (Romania): Changing fieldwork methodologies and implications for the comparability of archaeological assemblages

Mitoc–Malu Galben (Romania) is one of the key-sites for the Upper Palaeolithic in Eastern Europe, with abundant Upper Palaeolithic archaeological layers embedded in a ∼14 meters long loess-palaeosol sequence. The excavations in 1978–1990 yielded rich remains of Aurignacian and Gravettian workshops. From 1992 to 1995, an international collaboration helped better define their stratigraphical position, age, and typological characteristics. Since 2013, our team has conducted new fieldwork focusing on interdisciplinary study of site formation processes and a detailed technological study of the lithic artefacts. These different excavation phases have employed quite substantially different fieldwork methodologies. Here, we explore the impact of the changing excavation methodologies on the comparability of the generated assemblages by analyzing the frequency of bladelets among the elongated blanks as well as the length distribution of elongated blanks. Our preliminary study allows us to suggest that some of the assemblages seem to be influenced by the fieldwork methodology employed by each excavation phase, but more studies are needed to start to understand how the assemblages are biased.     

Detecting Human Presence at the Border of the Northeastern Italian Pre-Alps. 14C Dating at Rio Secco Cave as Expression of the First Gravettian and the Late Mousterian in the Northern Adriatic Region

In the northern Adriatic regions, which include the Venetian region and the Dalmatian coast, late Neanderthal settlements are recorded in few sites and even more ephemeral are remains of the Mid-Upper Palaeolithic occupations. A contribution to reconstruct the human presence during this time range has been produced from a recently investigated cave, Rio Secco, located in the northern Adriatic region at the foot of the Carnic Pre-Alps. Chronometric data make Rio Secco a key site in the context of recording occupation by late Neanderthals and regarding the diffusion of the Mid-Upper Palaeolithic culture in a particular district at the border of the alpine region. As for the Gravettian, its diffusion in Italy is a subject of on-going research and the aim of this paper is to provide new information on the timing of this process in Italy. In the southern end of the Peninsula the first occupation dates to around 28,000 ¹⁴C BP, whereas our results on Gravettian layer range from 29,390 to 28,995 ¹⁴C years BP. At the present state of knowledge, the emergence of the Gravettian in eastern Italy is contemporaneous with several sites in Central Europe and the chronological dates support the hypothesis that the Swabian Gravettian probably dispersed from eastern Austria.     

Le Jas d’en Biel 2, nouveau site gravettien du piémont est-méditerranéen des Pyrénées

The Corbières massif forms the lowest part of the Eastern Pyrenees, and as such is the easiest natural passage to connect the coastal plains of Languedoc and Roussillon in Southern France with those of Gironès and Barcelona in Northern Spanish Catalonia. This geographical situation confers on each of the sites discovered in this passage a role of milestone that can allow us to apprehend the dynamics of anthropic movements and relationships across these spaces. In 2007, the presence of a first Gravettian site in this Northern Pyrenean foothill was published: Jas d’en Biel 1. This discovery filled an “archaeological void” between the Gravettian sites of Languedoc and those of Spanish Catalonia. The discovery of a new site: Jas d’en Biel 2, 300 m from the first, reinforces the Gravettian presence in this region. The fact that the two sites present similar characteristics in terms of anthropic choices (solar orientation, proximity to a watercourse, lightness of the soil, protection from the wind, etc.) are all parameters that demonstrate the choices made by Gravettian men. The respective compositions of the lithic industries of the series do not show significant differences, allowing us to imagine a certain synchronism between the two sites. Burins are the most numerous tools, but at Jas d’en Biel 2 we find specimens close to the Raysse type that were absent from Jas d’en Biel 1. Jas d’en Biel 2, as well as its neighbor Jas d’en Biel 1, shows similarities with certain sites in Languedoc, such as Bois-des-Brousses, La Treille, La Verrière, the caves of Bize or La Crouzade. These are usually small deposits that belong to terminal moments of the Gravettian period. All these parameters point to similarities between the Languedoc sites and Jas d’en Biel 1 and 2. The geographical position of the Corbières massif allows us to consider the Jas d’en Biel sites as the last milestones of the Gravettian period upstream from the crossing of the Pyrenean passes, before the sites of the Serinyà region, such as l’Arbreda. Recent surveys carried out in the same valley of the Ravin d’en Saman have made it possible to locate and identify several other open-air settlements related to the Gravettian lato sensu. An analysis of intra- and extra-site characteristics will aim to understand the parameters that led men to settle in this micro-zone, as well as the reasons for this “concentration”.     

L’outillage lithique taillé dans le grand gisement paléolithique de Mitoc-Malu Galben

In this Palaeolithic site, at the moment the largest habitation undergoing investigations in Europe, several archaeological layers were discovered: Lower Aurignacian I, Aurignacian I, II, III and Upper Aurignacian III, Gravettian I, II, III, IV and Dispersed Gravettian. The systematic archaeological investigations were conducted between 1978 and 2017 and covered a surface of more than 900 square meters, reaching a depth of approximately 14 m. Stone artefacts worked in non-local raw materials were identified, as well as a survival of Aurignacian elements within the Gravettian medium, as suggested by the presence of carenated pieces, scarpers, etc.     

Le site des Vachons : étude de la partie gravettienne de la collection de l’IPH

This article firstly summarizes the process of study of an old collection, which had not been considered since the excavations at the site Les Vachons, started before 1914 and completed around 1939. The studied collection of J. Coiffard, both excavator and inventor of this site, includes four-fifths of the artefacts because, in 1940, he donated approximately one fifth to the Eyzies Museum. For his part, J. Bouyssonie who participated in the excavations for 3 years gave the major part of his own collection to the Archaeological Society of Charentes Angouleme where its condition makes it difficult to analyze. Despite these restrictions, based on statistical comparisons with counts many other sites, I came to the conclusion that the top three layers of Les Vachons are a confirmation of the Gravettian model, developed by B. Bosselin and F. Djindjian through their factor analysis. This model seems much better suited to the stratigraphy of Les Vachons, than all assumptions made by previous analysts in their attempt to bring the industries from the three layers in what remains from the Peyrony model.     

L'Aurignacien et le Gravettien ancien de la grotte Paglicci au Mont Gargano

The author illustrates, in a very synthetical way, Aurignacian and early Gravettian lithic industry from Paglicci Cave (Mount Gargano, South Italy), found during excavations carried out by University of Siena in the Eighties-Nineties. Layer 24 contains Aurignacian industries and is constituted by a fine silty-sandy sediment. The faunal remains from layer 24, dominated by Equus asinus, indicate a dry-temperate phase which on the basis of ¹⁴C dates, would be identified with the Arcy. Lithic industry contains numerous marginally backed bladelets and microbladelets Dufour like that, in the higher level evolve into a special type (denominated “PA 24 A1”). The early Gravettian occupies the overlying layers 23 and 22 that are rich in rough stones and blocks and contain more or less cold faunal remains (at first dominated by Capra ibex, subsequently Bos primigenius becomes abundant): the ¹⁴C dating insert them in a phase between Arcy and Tursac. Lithic industry includes a great number of La Gravette backed points and especially microgravette backed points. Some probable fléchettes are also present but unfortunately they are fragmented.     

Nouveaux sites paléolithiques anciens en République de Djibouti : bilan préliminaire de prospections récentes dans le Bassin du Gobaad,Afar central

New sites from the Lower Paleolithic of the Republic of Djibouti: Initial results from a recent survey of the Gobaad Basin, Central Afar. Previous research in the Republic of Djibouti resulted in two notable Paleolithic findings: the Oldowan elephant butchery site of Barogali, excavated by J. Chavaillon and A. Berthelet, and a Homo erectus/sapiens maxilla described by L. de Bonis et al. These discoveries were made in the 1980s, and no paleoanthropological surveys have been conducted in Djibouti in the following decades. In 2007, the Mission archéologique et paléontologique Afar Djibouti (MAPAD) carried out a new survey of the Gobaad Basin and discovered several new archaeological and paleontological sites attributed to the Lower Paleolithic. Three sites in particular contain rich concentrations of lithic artifacts on the surface that, based on field examination, can be attributed to the Oldowan. Of these, the site of Chekheyti Issie 3 (CKI-3) is the largest, comprising a surface of well over 100 m² of abundant Oldowan lithics in spatial association with fossil hippopotamus remains. The presence of lithic refits, identified in an ad hoc fashion in the field, suggests that the site was minimally disturbed. Further excavation and analysis of CKI-3 should provide insight into carcass acquisition and processing by early hominids. More generally, the newly discovered sites in the Gobaad Basin will allow for the testing of a range of hypotheses regarding both local and regional variation in hominid technology, behavior, and subsistence strategies in the Lower Pleistocene.     

A critical review of the German Paleolithic hominin record

We review the hominin fossil record from western Central Europe in light of the recent major revisions of the geochronological context. The mandible from Mauer (Homo heidelbergensis), dated to circa 500,000 years ago, continues to represent the earliest German hominin and may coincide with the occupation of Europe north of the high alpine mountain chains. Only limited new evidence is available for the Middle Pleistocene, mostly in the form of skull fragments, a pattern that may relate to taphonomic processes. These finds and their ages suggest the gradual evolution of a suite of Neandertal features during this period. Despite new finds of classic Neandertals, there is no clear proof for Neandertal burial from Germany. Alternatively, cut marks on a skull fragment from the Neandertal type site suggest special treatment of that individual. New Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dates of previous finds leave little reliably dated evidence for anatomically modern humans (AMH) in Europe before 30,000 BP; the remains from Hahn?fersand, Binshof-Speyer, Paderborn-Sande, and Vogelherd are now of Holocene age. Thus, a correlation of AMH with the Aurignacian remains to be proven, and the general idea of a long coexistence of Neandertals and AMH in Europe may be questioned. In western Central Europe, evidence of Gravettian human fossils is also very limited, although a new double grave from lower Austria may be relevant. The only dated burial from the German Upper Paleolithic (from Mittlere Klause) falls into a time period (circa 18,600 BP) represented by only a few occupation sites in western Central Europe. A number of human remains at Magdalenian sites appear to result from variable (secondary) burial practices. In contrast, the Final Paleolithic (circa 12,000-9600 cal. BC) yields an increase of hominin finds, including multiple burials (Bonn-Oberkassel, Neuwied-Irlich), similar to the situation in western and southern Europe.     

Le site Paléolithique de Suyanggae, Corée

The Suyanggae site is an open-air site in central part of South Korea. This site was discovered in 1980 and seven excavations have been carried out from 1983 to 1996. As a result, many stone artefacts were unearthed and 49 stone tool workshops were known. This site contains 5 cultural layers and the most important one is the Upper Paleolithic layer. This layer is dated to be 16,400 ~ 18,630 BP by ¹⁴C dating. It shows a massive blade production and microblade technique. It is one of the crucial sites for understanding the Upper Paleolithic of Korea.