Crossed perspectives at the Aurignacian site of Brignol (Villeneuve-sur-Lot, Lot-et-Garonne, France) : taphonomic, petroarchaeological, technoeconomic, and technofunctional approaches to the lithic industry

Abstract

taphonomic, petroarchaeological, technoeconomic, and technofunctional approaches to the lithic industry. The site of Brignol provides a new archaeological assemblage attributable to the quite particular grattoir Caminade facies of the Recent Aurignacian. Identified in relatively important quantities on only eight sites to date, the role of this facies within the recent phase of the Aurignacian macro-cultural phenomenon remains quite enigmatic. Is it a functional facies, complimentary with other variants during this period, or can it be considered its own separate chronological and/or regional entity? Several factors impede our ability to provide an adequate answer to this question at this juncture. Firstly, taphonomic issues in stratified sites render our comprehension of the relationship between grattoirs Caminade and other chronological markers of the Recent Aurignacian less than clear, while the absence of refits on such a series to date has made it impossible to complete the existing description the grattoir Caminade operational sequence, which is in turn necessary to evaluate its compatibility with other modes of production present during this phase. The technoeconomical study of the lithic assemblage from Brignol, systematic refits, combined with technofunctional, petroarchaeological, and taphonomic analyses, provide a new milestone for the comprehension of this particular archaeological facies. While Brignol cannot provide answers to all of our questions, the description of the operative schema of grattoir Caminade production, data from micro-wear analyses, as well as possible site functions, allow us to evoke novel hypotheses to explore regarding how these particular objets functioned and what the role of this facies is within the larger Recent Aurignacian period.

Timing of the Middle-to-Upper Palaeolithic transition in the Iberian inland (Cardina-Salto do Boi, Côa Valley, Portugal)

“…These assemblages have previously been assigned to the Final or Evolved Aurignacian (|Zilhão, 1997(|Zilhão, , 2006bAubry et al, 2006). The end of the Aurignacian in southern France has been dated by radiocarbon to approximately 32,000 cal yr BP (Michel, 2010;Higham et al, 2011;Rigaud et al, 2016), and the Brignol (Lot-et-Garonne, France) open-air occupation, yielding Caminade endscrapers and Roc-de-Combe Dufour bladelets, has been dated by OSL to 33-34 ka (Anderson et al, 2016).…”