| Summary: | The site of Le Flageolet (Bézenac, Dordogne) contains 2 rockshelters excavated between 1966 and 1993. Le Flageolet I, the subject of this paper, opens to the west. On the bedrock, a first lithostratigraphic unit yielded 3 Aurignacian archaeostrata within a mass of very large breakdown blocks that fell before or during the earliest human occupations. A second overlying lithostratum contained at least six Gravettian archaeostrata. Because of the complexity of this archaeostratigraphy, we conceived and applied a method of excavation based on three-dimensional recording of every artifact over 1,5 cm in maximum dimension, the use of scale drawings at 1/5 of artifact and feature distributions, and the concomitant production of narrow vertical artifact projections along various frontal and sagittal axes. This method allowed for fine control over the definition and integrity of artifact levels. Analyses of the resulting assemblages show that the traditional regional cultural “markers” do not have the unambiguous chronological significance attributed to them in the past based on interpretations from excavations at La Ferrassie, Pataud, Caminade, and Roc de Combe. Large ungulate mammal biostratigraphy allows chronological placement for all Aurignacian and Gravettian faunal assemblages from Le Flageolet I in relation to those from other Aquitaine sites the faunal remains permit the identification of particular environmental conditions that may be considered as “key events,” marking certain specific periods during the development of the Aurignacian-Gravettian sequence. Based on radiocarbon ages, several major Aquitaine sites, including Le Flageolet I, have been situated within the NGRIP climatic curve, thereby providing a chronological context independent of stone tool technology and typology. Based on all of this, a chronological-cultural model can be proposed that sees functional variation as an important influence on Aurignacian and Gravettian assemblage composition at Le Flageolet I and elsewhere. Since 1982, numerous ...
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