Inexperienced knappers, but not wandering around

PLoS ONE, 2022

For the Early Neolithic lithic industry in Western Europe (5500-4800 BCE), the study of technical behaviors, recognition of technical traditions, and even more so, idiosyncratic manifestations are not widespread. In this study, we propose an original approach to lithic industries based on the identification of "communities of practice" and individuals within housing units. The comparison of lithic series from the Meuse, Rhine and Seine basins allowed us to identify different technical traditions in the Early Neolithic. The study of three dwelling units at two sites in the Aisne Valley in France shows that it is possible to distinguish different flint blade debitages, which we interpreted as the work of different knappers. This novel study of hand-finding in the villages of the first agro-pastoralists populations proves stimulating for the renewal of perspectives on the interpretation of the organization of activities within villages.

We discuss the meaning of the presence ofsignificance of sites with Keilmesser finds (sometimes with tranchet blow, a.k.a para-burin or coup de tranchet latéral) from the Middle Paleolithic in Southern southern Burgundy. Until now there are eleven more then than ten sites (mainly in the Côte chalonnaise, the surrounding ofnear Châlon-sur-Saône) yielding such these specidic specific artifacts. The majorityMost of these assemblages derives from surface collections, but the recent excavations at Grottes de la Verpillière I & II (Germolles), which are nowhave been preliminarily dated to Late late OIS 4 or Early early OIS 3, provides hints aboutevidence for the chronological positions of the decontextualized assemblages from collections. In addition to the presence of Keilmesser (asymmetrically bifacially bifacially-backed knives), these sites possess a high congruence ofmany shared common features. Inter aliaAmong others, there is a high variability in other bifacial objects, and the Levallois concept technique is prevalently used for blank production. The conductedOur research, compared comparing ancient older collections from ancient earlier excavations and surface collections with the assemblages newly recently excavated at both Grottes de la Verpillière, and demonstrates the highly congruent assemblages from assemblage congruence of rock-shelter and open-air sites, and even open open-air sites on top of raw- material sources. Our studies allow us to redlections about summarizing group these Middle Paleolithic assemblages from Saône-et-Loire into a regional cluster in space and time (Space-Time Unit) that could be attributed to the Keilmessergruppen from central Europe. Not only because of theThis is due not only to the presence of Keilmesser but because ofalso to the presence of tranchet-blow modidicationmodifications, a highly complex technological possibility of sharpening edges on mainly bifacially -worked tools. For instance, various, specidic specific features must be present or installed on the tool in order to be able tobefore its manufacturer can accomplish the performance ofproduce a tranchet-blow modidicationmodification. The presence of this highly specific element in a cluster of sites is explainable with indicates the close personal relations of individuals or groups that can that would facilitate the transfer of the knowledge in that such a way that it forms a callable recall option in the working memory of individual knappers.

s expertise in relation to Neolithic flint mining was based on excavations at the mine of Kleinkems (Baden) already carried out in the 1930s and 1950s. Using this as background and in connection with a short summary of the regional history of flint mining research, the author describes both of Schmid's excavation campaigns in Veaux-Malaucène.

MARTINEAU R., IMBEAUX M., AFFOLTER J., CHARPY J-J., BOSTYN F., DUMONTET A., 2019, The Neolithic Flint Mines of Les Marais de Saint-Gond and La Côte des Blancs (Marne, France), Anthropologica et Praehistorica, p. 101-118. , 2019

The Côte d'Île-de-France, in particular around the Saint-Gond Marshes, is well known for numerous collective burials and notably for its hypogea. Eighteen flint mines have also been excavated there during the nineteenth or at the beginning of the twentieth century, or have more recently been detected by aerial photography. Five mining areas have been identified. The excavation of Vert-la-Gravelle 'La Crayère' concerns one of these sectors. These excavations have discovered three trenches and four shafts for flint exploitation. The flint of Saint-Gond has been geologically and petrographically studied in order to characterise the micro-facies. In the same region, the presence of these numerous flint mines and 120 hypogea, five gallery graves, eight earthfast polissoirs and hundreds of knapping workshops suggest the presence of a new mining complex in the Saint-Gond Marshes. The study of this sector opens many new perspectives concerning the regional distribution of flint, the quantitative estimation of flint exploitation surface area and the study of territorial organisation. Résumé Le secteur sud-est de la Côte d'Île-de-France, et notamment la région des Marais de Saint-Gond, a livré de très nombreuses sépultures collectives en hypogées, mais aussi 18 minières de silex fouillées au XIX e ou au début du XX e siècle. Plusieurs autres minières ont été récemment détectées par photographie aérienne. Cinq secteurs miniers ont été identifiés. L'un d'eux a fait l'objet d'une fouille sur le site de « La Crayère » à Vert-la-Gravelle, où trois tranchées à ciel ouvert et quatre puits pour l'extraction du silex ont été mis au jour. Le silex de Saint-Gond a fait l'objet d'une caractérisation pétrographique détaillée des micro-faciès. La présence de ces nombreuses minières de silex situées dans une région comprenant plus de 120 hypogées, cinq allées couvertes, huit polissoirs fixes et des centaines d'ateliers de taille permet d'évoquer la présence d'un nouveau complexe minier. L'étude de ce secteur ouvre de nombreuses perspectives concernant la diffusion de ce silex à l'échelle régionale, l'estimation des surfaces d'extraction du silex et l'étude de l'occupation du territoire. Mots-clés : Marne, Saint-Gond, Néolithique récent, mines de silex, atelier de taille, hypogée, photographies aériennes.

Conference: 9th International Conference UISPP Commission on Flint Miningin Pre-and Protohistoric Times. “ The flint mining studies: archaeological excavations– extraction methods – chipping floors –distribution of raw materials and workshop products”, 2019

South-East France is rich in siliceous resources. In particular the lower Cretaceous of the department of Vaucluse (Bedoulian), frequently called “honey flint”. This flint was intensively exploited during Prehistory, especially during the Middle Neolithic period (4500 - 3500 BC; Binder, 1998; Léa, 2004). During this period it circulates over a large area in the form of blades, heated cores or heated bladelets. In recent years, work in this sector has mainly focused on the acquisition of raw materials, the location and extension of mines and quarries, particularly in the area of Murs, Malaucène and Sault (Labriffe (de) et al., submitted). Once the flint is extracted, the question is to know where and how the different stages of production took place. We will try to define the different production sites based on the lithic industry collected during our surveys. The large blades appear to have been made directly at the extraction sites as suggested by the presence of cores. On the contrary, the spatial organisation of heated bladelets production is more complex. In addition to the large workshops in mines and quarries, there are “secondary workshops” located outside the extraction areas. We will present the specificities of the different workshops we have identified.

Anthropologica et Præhistorica, 2019

This paper presents some preliminary reflections on the socioeconomic organisation of stone tool production of the Blicquian populations from Hainaut (Belgium, Early Neolithic). The tool production of these rst agro-pastoralist communities was made by two groups of knappers with di erent levels of technical expertise. Indications suggest that the domestic unit was not totally autonomous when producing lithic tool blanks. In fact, blade production seems to have been organised between several villages. Résumé Cet article présente des réflexions préliminaires sur l'organisation socio-économique de la production des outillages lithiques des populations blicquiennes du Hainaut (Belgique, Néolithique ancien). La production de ces premières communautés agro-pastorales repose sur deux groupes de tailleurs ne disposant pas des mêmes niveaux de savoir-faire. Un faisceau d'indices converge pour proposer que l'unité domestique ne soit pas totalement autonome pour sa production en supports de l'outillage lithique. La production de lames semble en e et organisée à l'échelle de plusieurs villages.

2009

Neanderthal Lifeways, …, 2011

The Middle Paleolithic settlement of Le Fond des Blanchards was discovered in 1996 in a gravel quarry of the Yonne valley (Paris Basin, France). A general overview of the lithic industries allows for comparing them to assemblages of the Quina variant of the Mousterian. Thus, the Le Fond des Blanchards industries are of special interest, because the Quina variant does not exist elsewhere in the northern part of France. Therefore they do not resemble contemporaneous assemblages from the Yonne river valley or from the Paris Basin. Our study consists in a technological approach of the assemblages and a techno-functional analysis of the scrapers from level C. The understanding of these unique industries enables us to discuss the internal variability of the Quina facies and the lithic diversity of the late Mousterian. The D levels are resulting from different occupations during cold climatic conditions in an open landscape. The lithic artifacts configuration shows that all stages of the flake production in the chaîne opératoire are represented in situ. Formal tools are rare. The lithic production systems of Le Fond des Blanchards are both, classical Quina and classical Levallois. Beyond the typological and technological differences, that leads us to revise our definitions, and to look anew at the variability of the neanderthalian lithic industries.

PALEO, 23 | 2012, p. 55-84