Breaking bad? Discarding the solutrean norms: Chronology, evolution and geographical extent of the badegoulian phenomenon in Western Europe

Abstract

The Badegoulian technocomplex holds a special place among the West European Upper Paleolithic (UP) cultural traditions. Often understated or even bypassed by the main prehistorical overviews, caught between the fascinating Solutrean and the "classic" Magdalenian technocomplexes, it nonetheless probably marks a turning point in the evolving trajectory of hunter-gatherers in present-day France. The deep typo-technological changes, traditionally noted through lithic equipment, have recently been examined in the framework of interdisciplinary programs centered on several key-stratigraphic sequences located in southwest France. The combined analyses of flint, bone and antler assemblages, ornaments and faunal remains, together with the implementation of systematic archaeostratigraphic reassessment and radiometric dating, serve to confirm the speed and the strength of these changes ca. 23 cal ka BP. Without going into detail into the Solutrean-Badegoulian transition issue, the present paper provides a synthetic overview of the main Badegoulian characteristics-and their known variability-on the basis of the lithic and osseous equipment that guided the original identification. Following a three-step structure successively exploring the "when", the "what" and the "where" questions, we will look at the current challenges in LGM chronocultural research, between (false) consensus and (true) sticking points.

Beyond Shapes: Core Reduction Strategies in the Magdalenian of Cova Gran de Santa Linya (NE Iberia)

“…The opening of the knapping surface is done in a similar manner. The names given to this type of exploitation are varied: burin, with its variations (nucleiform, Vachons and Busqué), 'burin-core' (de Araujo ; Aura et al, 2012) and 'on edge' (Ducasse et al, 2020;Goebel, 2002;Langlais, 2007;Roman, 2015). Burin-core methods include two main types: preferential and equivalent.…”

A large-scale view on 'small-scale societies'

“…However, this state of two largely separated networks was overcome again already between roughly 23,000 to 20,000 years ago. At around that time, assemblages occur in Western Europe which are referred to as Badegoulian and which bear close resemblance to contemporaneous assemblages in Central Europe (Ducasse et al 2021;Händel et al 2021).…”

The Antler, Ivory, and Bone Artefacts from Maszycka Cave (Southern Poland). New Signals from a Late Upper Palaeolithic Key Site

“…The present gap of three millennia between 22 and 19 ka cal. BP implies that contrary to western Europe (Ducasse et al, 2021;Kretschmer, 2015), there were no local traditions rooted in the LGM for the Magdalenian of Maszycka to emerge from.…”