Approaching technical behaviours during the Early Middle Magdalenian in west-central France
Approche des comportements techniques au Magdalénien moyen ancien dans le Centre-Ouest de la France
Résumé
The evidence of post-LGM human re-occupation of West-Central France particularly develop between 19 and 17.5 ky cal. BP. This interval corresponds to the Early Middle Magdalenian Period (EMM) which includes numerous cave sites rich in art in the area. In West-Central France, the EMM appears as an exception since very few occupations are attributed to earlier (Lower Magdalenian) or later periods (Late Middle Magdalenian). Several open-air sites are documented in the area south of the Paris Basin, but their chrono-cultural attribution is complicated: they are most often non-dated surface sites whose material is composed of unretouched flint débitage items. These sites may have been related to the exploitation of good quality flints in the Grand-Pressigny region (Indre-et-
Loire).
During the EMM, several cultural traditions are recognised, notably through the typology of osseous projectile points, the microliths and art productions. West-Central France is at the crossroads of several of these traditions. The sites of the region have yielded abundant works of art and osseous industry, which is at the heart of cultural traditions perceived by the archaeologists as the following facies. The Lussac-Angles Magdalenian (LAM) is defined by the Lussac-Angles osseous point identified from the south of the Paris Basin to Cantabria (Cantabrian Lower Magdalenian). The navettes Magdalenian (NM) is mainly identified by the navette, a specific osseous artifact interpreted as a tool haft, found from Gironde to Poland.
The comprehension of these facies rests mainly on typological bases. In order to contribute to a broadening of the means of characterizing
these facies, we place the techniques at the heart of the reflection to participate to promote a better understanding of the cultural dynamics during the EMM in West-Central France. To reach this, we use technological and functional analyses of lithic industries. These two methods allow to reconstitute the chaînes opératoires from the production of the tools to their discard, the gestures that compose processes, and therefore the technical traditions to which they belonged. These last aspects constitute cultural markers and are used in the characterization on the cultural diversity during the EMM.
We focus on the lithic industry from la Marche (Vienne, LAM) and the Blanchard cave on the hillside of la Garenne (Indre, NM). They
are close geographically and chronologically and are at the centre of the definition of distinct typological facies. The comparison of the lithic assemblages attests of both recurrences and variations of production and use techniques. The Magdalenians from la Marche and the Blanchard cave exploited good quality flint from allochtonous outcrops, mainly Upper Turonian from the Grand-Pressigny region and Lower Turonian from the Indre and Cher valleys (Aubry, 2004 ; Primault, com. pers.). In both sites, the production objectives are oriented towards elongated and regular blanks: the blades and the bladelets. They were obtained by direct percussion with a soft organic hammer. The blade knapping chaîne opératoire is segmented in time and space. Blades are knapped from wide surface cores with mainly a unipolar rhythm. A diversity of arrangements is used for bladelets production: exploited cores can be blocks or flakes, the rhythm unipolar or preferential unipolar, the knapping surface can be wide or narrow and its exploitation can be semi-rotating, frontal, or rotating. The bladelets are mainly shaped into backed bladelets and blades are devoted to the shaping of extremity tools such as burins, endscrapers, beaks, or lateral tools such as retouched blades. Most of these elements are common with EMM sites from South-West of France (Langlais et al., 2016).
A diversity of activities was performed with stone tools in both sites. The functional spectra is dominated by the exploitation of animal resources. Form and function of tools are strongly correlated. For example, backed bladelets only present impact damages (fractures, scars, linear impact traces). Hide is the best represented worked material on blades, and endscrapers are the main tools used for hide scraping. Strategies to extend the life of tools (multiple uses, reuses or recycling) and used areas (resharpening) are common in both sites and may induce form and function changes. Most of these elements are also identified at the EMM site of le Roc-aux-Sorciers, Vienne (Chehmana et Beyries, 2010 ; Beyries et Cattin, 2014).
Aside from the recurrences, production and use techniques vary between the studied sites. At la Marche, as well as in the EMM sites from South-West of France (Langlais et al., 2016), blades and bladelets correspond to strictly separated objectives. Nevertheless, at the Blanchard cave, the continuous distribution of the width of unretouched blades and bladelets may suggest continuous exploitation of at least some cores, which is also recognised during the Lower and Upper Magdalenian in South-West of France. At the Blanchard cave, however, products having an intermediary size are not sought out for tool manufacture.
Scalene bladelets are absent in EMM sites of West-Central France but are abundant in EMM sites of the South-West of France and in the Cantabrian Lower Magdalenian of Northern Spain. Furthermore, typological differences express between in the two studied sites: double backed bladelets and splintered pieces are more numerous at the Blanchard cave than at la Marche. On the contrary, beaks and perforators, as well as the thinned and truncated pieces or la Marche-type cores are abundant at la Marche and rare at the Blanchard cave (Airvaux et al., 2012). Typological differences may be the expression of use techniques variations, but this is not systematic: the functional analysis of beaks and perforators from both sites indicates similar uses. In addition, typology similarities are not necessarily related with the same uses, as shown by the examples of endscrapers, well represented in both sites and sharing shape and shaping modalities. By comparing the use-wears on their distal end with ethnographic and experimental data, different gestures corresponding to several stages of hide treatment are identified in each site.
The technical variations between the studied sites complete the set of artistic expressions and osseous industry differences that are at the heart of the definition of LAM and NM facies, and need to be reinforced by further investigations: isolating technical behaviours specific to a region or a period allows for a better apprehension of the cultural diversity during the Magdalenian.
Au Magdalénien moyen ancien (MMA, 19-17,5 ka cal. BP), les témoins d’occupation du Centre-Ouest de la France sont particulièrement nombreux et riches en art et en industrie osseuse. Plusieurs ensembles culturels sont reconnus à cette période, notamment à travers la typologie des pointes de projectile et des microlithes mais également de la production artistique. Le Centre-Ouest correspond alors à un carrefour à l’interface de plusieurs traditions culturelles. Il s’agit par exemple du Magdalénien à pointes de Lussac-Angles (MLA), identifié du Sud du Bassin parisien jusqu’aux Cantabres (Magdalénien inférieur cantabrique), et du Magdalénien à navettes (MN), reconnu de la Gironde à la Pologne. Leur appréhension repose essentiellement sur des bases typologiques, ce qui rend leur définition peu dynamique.
Dans cet article, nous plaçons les techniques au coeur des réflexions avec pour objectif de participer à une meilleure compréhension des dynamiques culturelles en jeu au MMA dans le Centre-Ouest. Dans cette perspective, nous croisons l’analyse technologique et fonctionnelle des industries lithiques. L’articulation des deux méthodes doit permettre de reconstituer les chaînes opératoires et d’approcher les traditions techniques. Ces dernières constituent à elles seules des marqueurs culturels forts, quel que soit le statut du site. Pour illustrer notre propos, nous comparons l’industrie lithique de la Marche (Vienne, MLA) et de la grotte Blanchard à la Garenne (Indre, MN). Ces ensembles lithiques témoignent à la fois de récurrences et de variations des modalités de production et d’utilisation de l’industrie lithique ; celles-ci s’expriment tout au long des chaînes opératoires. En isolant des comportements techniques propres à une période ou à une région, nous tentons d’approcher de manière systémique la diversité des cultures matérielles au Magdalénien.