Material culture and environmental change at the end of the Late Glacial: examples from Monruz and Champréveyres, Magdalenian and Azilian campsites on the Swiss Plateau.

Summary

During the Magdalenian in Switzerland the climate was very cold and the landscape was treeless. Faunal assemblages are dominated by horse but include arctic and alpine species. Lithic assemblages include backed bladelets (used to make composite projectile points) and tools used to butcher and process prey. The appearance of bipoints marks a shift in projectile point technology that coincides with an increase in juniper in the pollen record. The débitage show continuity with the preceding period but for the introduction of soft stone percussion. Faunal assemblages are dominated by red deer, while reindeer all but disappears.

At the beginning of the Azilian the landscape was a thin tree cover included birch, willow, sea buckthorn and juniper. Reindeer disappear entirely and red deer and horse dominate the fauna assemblages. The débitage is still oriented towards the production of blades and bladelets, but the products are irregular; frontal exploitation of cores is frequent as is the use of soft and hard stone percussion. We also observe changes in lithic raw material procurement: some flint sources fall into disuse while new sources are exploited. Whether or not these cultural changes are a response to environmental change is the question we will address here.

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)

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