Points and convergent tools in the European Early Middle Palaeolithic site of Payre (SE,France) |
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Authors: | Marie-Hé lè ne Moncel,Marí a Gema Chacó n,Aude Coudenneau,Paul Fernandes |
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Affiliation: | 1. Département de Préhistoire, Muséum National d''Histoire Naturelle, Institut de Paléontologie Humaine, Rue René Panhard, 1, 75013 Paris, France;2. IPHES (Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social), Àrea de Prehistòria, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Plaça Imperial Tarraco, 1. ES43005 Tarragona, Spain;3. MMSH, ESEP, 5, rue du Château de l''Horloge, 13095 Aix-en-Provence, France;4. Institut de Préhistoire et de Géologie du Quaternaire, Université de Bordeaux I, Avenue des Universités, 33405 Talence, France |
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Abstract: | The lithic assemblage from the Middle Palaeolithic site of Payre (Rhone Valley, France) contains a large number of convergent tools and pointed tools of various shapes, sizes and retouch types. These were excavated from several archaeological units, dating from marine isotopic stages 8–5, which also yielded human skeletal remains. Consideration of this large tool kit has led to an improved analysis of Middle Palaeolithic tools with two retouched convergent edges. The 350 tools were not described within the classical typological framework, but, rather, from a lithic technological perspective in relation to a discoid debitage. In addition, an initial macroscopic use-wear analysis aided in establishing whether they were used according to their technical and/or morphological features. The Middle Palaeolithic convergent tools from Payre are shown to be quite diversified, and the question of the significance of the retouch and the definition of the various types is addressed. Initial functional results indicate that a clear relationship between shape and function cannot be easily established, and that these tools were used as hand tools. This study contributes to the debate on the use of stone tip spears in the Early European Middle Palaeolithic. |
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Keywords: | Lithic tools typology technology macro-traces analysis Middle Palaeolithic France Neanderthals |
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