A Late Middle Palaeolithic assemblage containing Levallois and bifacial objects from Saône-et-Loire, France: GH 3 at Grotte de la Verpillière II à Germolles

Abstract

The site of Grotte de la Verpillière II, a rock shelter and corresponding cave tunnel, is situated in a cliff face of an Oxfordian massive, around 10 km West of Chalon-sur-Saône in Eastern France. The excavation at this site has recovered Middle Palaeolithic assemblages in three stratified sedimentological units. The richest of these assemblages derives from Geological Horizon (GH) 3 and is discussed here. It is preliminarily attributed to a Late Middle Palaeolithic context of OIS 3 to 4 using radiometric-dating techniques.The assemblage combines Levallois reduction, bifacial objects and diverse 'opportunistic' reduction strategies. The Levallois reduction shows a high level of raw-material economy in the use of raw pieces and blanks whose morphology is close to the shape of desired configured cores. Other reduction strategies show a wider range of approaches to blank production. Bifacial objects include but are not limited to Keilmesser with tranchet blows. The condition of objects from GH 3 range from unused raw pieces, tested raw pieces, configured and exhausted cores, correction and central flakes, as well as some heated objects, frost shards, and debris. The majority of raw materials derive from sources nearby, but were clearly transported to the site. Only some pieces show evidence for transport of up to 100 km from source to site. The presence of specific reduction strategies on bifacial objects and the existence of tranchet-blow modification provide support for the attribution of the assemblage to the Keilmessergruppen assemblages from Central Europe.

Techno-functional and 3D shape analysis applied for investigating the variability of backed tools in the Late Middle Paleolithic of Central Europe

“…The final shape is, as already seen and confirmed by our dataset, a consequence of numerous subsequent stages [20,23,61]. These stages can lead to the tools' reshaping or "remolding", a recycling that involves a different function [117]. In Moravski Krumlov IV is also hypothesized that, in Szeletian, Streletskayan and perhaps also Micoquian assemblage, Keilmesser-like forms can constitute itself a phase in the manufacture of unfinished leaf points [109,118].…”

The performance of tranchet blows at the Late Middle Paleolithic site of Grotte de la Verpillière I (Saône-et-Loire, France)

“…Both indicate that the under-laying GH 16 (probably the remains of an occupation floor inside the rock shelter, see also [ 27 , 28 ]), has an ante quem date of older than 46 ka [ 26 ]. On the other hand, another line of evidence derives from Grotte de la Verpillière II (VP II), a site close-by with well stratified sediment layers of the Late Middle Paleolithic also containing bifacial objects and KMTBs [ 11 , 16 , 17 ]. There, dating attempts using various methods (IRSL, ESR-U/Th and AMS 14 C) provided data indicating that all Middle Paleolithic layers (GH 3, GH 4x and GH 4) present there must be placed in the early MIS 3 between 40 and 50 ka (all of them contained KMTBs or blanks of TBs).…”

The Middle Paleolithic of the Côte Chalonnaise: Chronology, Technology and Palethnological Elements

“…-Discovery and surface collections: Sikner, since around 2000 Seitz (2011); Sikner (2014) -Discovery, surface collections and small sondage: Lenèz 1926 -Continuous surface collections: Guillard (1935, Gros (1950s-1960s) -Ongoing surface collections: Donguy and Macioszczyk since 2002 -Floss prospections 2009 and 2014 Guillard (1947); Gros (1964); Gros and Gros (2005) -Discovery and first excavation: Méray 1868 -Numerous excavations between 1890s and 1970s (e.g., Mayet and Mazenot 1914-1920, Delporte 1953-1955, Combier 1959) -Annual excavation by Floss between 2006Combier (1959; Dutkiewicz (2011); Dutkiewicz and Floss (2015); Floss (2005); Floss et al (2013Floss et al ( , 2016; Gros and Gros (2005); Méray (1869Méray ( , 1876 -Discovery and first excavation: Floss 2006 -Annual excavations by Floss betweeen 2006Floss (2007, 2008; Floss et al (2013bFloss et al ( , 2016; Frick (2016a); Frick and Floss (2015) -Discovery: Guillard 1952 -Continuous surface collections: Guillard and Gros 1950s and 1960s -Ongoing surface collections: Donguy and Macioszczyk since 2002-Floss prospections 2009Guillard (1954; Gros and Gros (2005); Macioszczyk and Donguy (2014); Herkert (2017); -First and only excavation: Mayet and Mazenot 1913-Floss prospection 2015Combier (1956; Gros and Gros (2005); Lenèz (1935); Mayet et al (1921) -Discovery: Méray 1870s -Surface collections: Parriat 1950s -Small sondage:…”

“…Nevertheless, certain specific pieces also suggest long distance imports to the sites. For example, at Verpillière II, at least four pieces can be attributed to raw material sources in the Mont-lès-Etrelles region (Floss 2008(Floss , 2009a(Floss , 2009b) situated about 110 km to the north-east in the direction of south-western Germany and within the traditional range of the Keilmessergruppen (Frick 2016a).…”

“…Concerning the other general features set out by Frick (2016a), analysis is still in progress (see also Herkert and Frick 2020); in some cases the lack of stratigraphical contexts for the pieces prevents further clarification. Nevertheless, the initial overview of the assemblages appears quite homogeneous (Table 7), which leads us to the hypothesis of a technological cluster on these sites.…”