Sur os et sur dents : les « retouchoirs » aurignaciens de la Ferrassie (Savignac-de-Miremont, Dordogne)

Abstract

The utilization of bones and teeth as « retouchers » during the Aurignacian at La Ferrassie

Bone retouchers from the Middle Palaeolithic site of El Salt, Stratigraphic Unit Xa (Alicante, Spain): First data and comparison with the Middle to Upper Pleistocene European record

“…Only exceptionally were retouchers made from horse molars or the canines of large carnivores ( Panthera spelaea and Ursus sp. ), as is evidenced at the sites of La Ferrassie, Les Rois, Le Pont Neuf, La Souquette, Le Ruth, and Vogelherd, among others (Castel et al, ; Leroy‐Prost, ). As a general rule, human groups tend to select the skeletal elements from animal readily available at the site for their use as bone retouches.…”

“…In the European record, bone retouchers have been found in numerous archaeological sites, ranging from the Iberian Peninsula in the southwest, to England in the north (Smith, ), and the Caucasus in the east (Filipov & Lioubine, ), with several archaeological sites of particular value in France (Castel, ; Castel, Chauvière, L'Homme, & Camus, ; Castel, Chauvière, & Madelaine, ; Castel & Madelaine, , ; Costamagno et al, ; Daujeard et al, , ; Moigne et al, ; Patou‐Mathis, ) and northern Spain (Barandiaran, ; Garrido‐Pimentel & Mozota, ; Martínez‐Moreno, ; Mozota, , , , , ). In this sense, the scarcity of data for the eastern Iberian Peninsula is intriguing, with a little‐known record.…”

“…The taxa and anatomical elements used to make bone retouchers are relatively constant and mainly comprise diaphysis fragments from the limb bones of medium to large hoofed mammals ( Bos/Bison , Equus , and Cervus ). Exceptionally were other skeletal parts used to make these tools, including a phalanx, hypsodont teeth, canines of large carnivores, and ribs and tusks of very large mammals (Castel et al, ; Gaudzinski, ; Leroy‐Prost, ; Neruda & Lázničková‐Galetová, ; Valensi, ).…”

The bulb retouchers in the Levant: New insights into Middle Palaeolithic retouching techniques and mobile tool-kit composition

“…Although it is unclear if the knappers were aware that the bone they selected was of human individuals, the fact that they were probably collected and used when the bones were still fresh [13,15], reinforces the hypothesis of a non-utilitarian behaviour [but see 8 for a different view]. In this framework, Nesher Ramla bulb retouchers could have been objects invested with an additional value, prized by their owners and used intensely, over prolonged time, as suggested for the Aurignacian retouchers of La Ferrassie made of carnivore teeth [65].…”

The application of geometric-morphometric shape analysis to Middle Paleolithic bone retouchers from the Altai Mountains, Russia

“…Numerous anatomical elements (e.g., upper limb bones, metapodials, skulls, mandibles, ribs) of large vertebrate taxa, mostly subjected to the butchery process, were used to produce various blanks. During the Upper Pleistocene, human societies may have assigned specific symbolic implications to the acquisition and use of unusual osseous tool blanks such as the Neanderthal skulls at La Quina, France (Verna and d'Errico, 2011), Ursus spelaeus long bones at Scladina, Belgium (Abrams et al, 2014) or, as in the case of some Aurignacian sites in southwestern France, large carnivore (Panthera spelaea) canines (Castel et al, 2003). Retouchers have generally been of interest to archaeologists only in the context as functional implements and are described as being produced on bone blanks, sometimes without evidence of carcass part selection (Armand and Delagnes, 1998).…”