Nomadism in the Magdalenian groups of Monruz and Champréveyres (Switzerland)

Summary

Located in a region where flint is of mediocre quality, the Magdalenian sites of Monruz and Champréveyres (Neuchâtel, Switzerland) show the introduction of a high proportion of good quality flint from sometimes very distant (up to 200 km) regions. For this reason we can argue that flint was not a constraining factor on the selection of camp location. It is certain that favorable hunting grounds, as well as the proximity to water sources and combustible materials, were more important.

The Magdalenian groups of Monruz and Champréveyres likely anticipated their needs and collected raw materials from regions they visited, or obtained them through exchange, when travelling to regions poor in lithic raw materials. Distant materials arrived at the sites in different forms, from tested nodules, to tools, to unworked blanks. The analysis of discarded cores and the different stages of the chaîne opératoire represented permit us to define the first activities realized on the campsite, as well as the "passage" (arrival, working and use, and departure) of tools and cores through the site.

Here we present some examples that will illustrate situations (arrivals and departures) in the campsite linked to nomadism and group territories.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)   •
• Space and time in the Upper Palaeolithic: a mixed traditions approach to the study of prehistory

Keywords

Spatial Coverage