Late Mousterian Industrial Variability in Southwestern France: A Case of Abri Peyrony

Summary

Variability of late Neandertal technological behavior has been a long debated question in which sites from southwestern France figure prominently. As suggested by some, rich datasets from this region show a pattern of chronological sequencing of late Mousterian technocomplexes. According to this model that assumes technocomplexes reflect different cultural groups among Neandertals, Quina Mousterian is always followed by Mousterian of Acheulean Tradition (MTA) and discoidal-denticulate is proposed as the latest expression of Mousterian in this region. This contradicts previous views where MTA is the latest manifestation of Neandertals and represents an origin of the Châtelperronian. Re-opened in 2009, Abri Peyrony, known as an MTA location since early 1900s, yielded a rich dataset that includes numerous lithic and faunal remains, bone tools and worked manganese oxide. Aside from a known MTA level, an older level has been discovered. In terms of lithic assemblage, it shows no bifacial elements characteristic of MTA and it features predominance of discoidal system and denticulate tools. Here we will present recent analysis of lithic industries from this site and discuss its contribution to the questions of the reality of the Mousterian technocomplexes and the validity of the chronostratigraphic sequencing of the late Mousterian in southwest France.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)

Keywords

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