Technological Trajectories and Eco-Cultural Niche Dynamics from the Middle to the Recent Gravettian in France

• Main Author: Vignoles, Anaïs
• Other Authors: De la Préhistoire à l'Actuel : Culture, Environnement et Anthropologie (PACEA), Université de Bordeaux (UB)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Université de Bordeaux, William E. Banks
• Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
• Language: French
• Published: HAL CCSD 2021
• Subjects: Middle Gravettian; Recent Gravettian; Eco-Cultural niche modeling; Lithic typo-Technology; Culture-Environment relationships; Upper Palaeolithic; Gravettien moyen; Gravettien récent; Modélisation de niches éco-Culturelles; Typo-Technologie lithique; Relations cultureenvironnement; Paléolithique supérieur; [SDE.ES]Environmental Sciences/Environment and Society; [SHS.ARCHEO]Humanities and Social Sciences/Archaeology and Prehistory; Greenland
• Online Access: https://theses.hal.science/tel-03572164; https://theses.hal.science/tel-03572164/document; https://theses.hal.science/tel-03572164/file/VIGNOLES_ANAIS_2021.pdf

One of the main goals of prehistoric archaeology is the delineation of cultural processes behind the patterns of variability in past hunter-gatherers’ material culture. In this thesis, we identify mechanisms implicated in lithic technological trajectories during the Middle Gravettien – characterized by the Noaillian and the Rayssian typo-technological complexes (32-28.75 ka cal. BP) – and the Recent Gravettian (28.75-26.5 ka cal. BP) in France and its margins. The archaeological units characterizing these periods have differing geographic distributions. Moreover, major technological changes are chronologically associated with periods of high climatic instability – such as Heinrich Event 3 (HE3) during the Middle Gravettian, or climate warming linked to Greenland Interstadial 4 (GI 4) during the Recent Gravettian. However, the reality of a causal link between technological and ecological variability needs to be evaluated via a quantitative and interdisciplinary approach aimed at better integrating archaeological and environmental data.In this vein, we apply an approach integrating the typo-technological study of three archaeological assemblages – level 10/11 of the Abri du Facteur in Tursac, the archaeological site of Les Jambes in Périgueux and the Gravettian sequence of Flageolet I in Bézénac – and eco-cultural niche modeling methods to explore culture-environment relationships at different scales. Our results indicate that typo-technological changes are associated with changes in eco-cultural niches in both environmental and geographic dimensions. Building on these results, we propose the role of three mechanisms behind these cultural trajectories.• During the Middle Gravettian, the typo-technological distinction between the Pyreneo-Cantabria region (Noaillian) and the territories situated north of the Garonne River (Noaillian and Rayssian) can be explained by each territories’ environmental specificities, combined with a probable specialization of hunting practices in the north.• The generalization of the ...