Tunca, Ö., Baghdo, A. (Eds.), Chagar Bazar (Syrie) VIII. Les Tombes Ordinaires de l’Âge Du Bronze Ancien et Moyen Des Chantiers D-F-H-I (1999-2011). Études Diverses, Publications de La Mission Archéologique de l’Université de Liège En Syrie. Liège, pp. 149–154., 2018
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Papers by Solange Rigaud
Sous la direction de Sandrine COSTAMAGNO, Lionel GOURICHON, Catherine DUPONT, Olivier DUTOUR, Denis VIALOU
141e Congrès national des sociétés historiques et scientifiques, Rouen, 2016
Sous la direction de Sandrine COSTAMAGNO, Lionel GOURICHON, Catherine DUPONT, Olivier DUTOUR, Denis VIALOU
141e Congrès national des sociétés historiques et scientifiques, Rouen, 2016
Keywords: Personal ornaments, symbolism, circulations, raw material availability, regional cultural entities
Personal ornaments have long been used to estimate the territories of past populations. Through an interdisciplinary approach, including material analyses and eco-cultural niche modelling, this work proposes a new insight in the relationship between cultural territory and environmental resource availability.
Results of taphonomic, archaeozoological, and morphometric analyses of personal ornaments composed primarily of red deer upper canines recovered from contemporary Mesolithic burials (Brana-Arintero Cantabria, northern Spain and Ofnet, southern Germany) are described. The use wear patterns, the mortality profile of the preys, and the over-representation of unpaired teeth are interpreted to reflect acquisition over a long period of time via exchange networks. In order to evaluate their procurement and circulation, the archaeological distribution of personal ornaments made of red deer canines is compared to the potential ecological niche of the taxon. To do so, we use the Genetic Algorithm for Rule-set Prediction (GARP) to reconstruct the Red Deer ecological niche in Europe during Mesolithic."
Study of recorded occurrences of perforated red deer canines at European Mesolithic sites identifies a northern region in which this ornament is widely used. Braña-Arintero cave is located at the very southern limit of this distribution area. Since red deer is attested all over Europe during the Atlantic period (Sommer et al. 2008) the preference for the use of canines of this species in the North of Europe is the likely expression of a cultural choice.