Lithic production, managment and mobility strategies adaptation during the GS-1 and Early Holocene in North-Western France

Summary

The second half of the Late glacial is marked in North Western Europe by a major climatic instability with clear consequences on the vegetation and in resources density and distribution. At the end of this period, the GS-1 cooling is well recorded and is one of the most important of these events. During this period, hunter-gatherer groups experienced major changes in a large part of Europe extended from Spain to Scandinavia. This period is marked by the rapid spread of a phenomenon characterized by a massive return of blades associated with a particularly invested technology. This period is in clear rupture with the previous millennia (GIS-1) marked by the “azilianization process” of the Magdalenian societies and illustrated by a progressive reduction of technical investment in lithic productions. The development of this new lithic equipment goes with changes in mobility patterns, tool management strategies or symbolic system. Did the GS-1 cooling and the rapid Holocene warming play a role in these changes? Some of our data would suggest that it is the case. The situation is however probably much more complex and it is impossible to explain such a complicated phenomenon by a simple deterministic equation.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• Human Adaptations to Lateglacial and Early Holocene Climate and Environmental Changes: Towards a Trans-Atlantic Perspective (Part 2)

Keywords

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