Conditioning of the raw materials on discoid exploitation strategies during the Early Middle Palaeolithic: the example of Payre level D (South-East France)

Abstract

In the last decades, a growing attention was paid towards the exploitation of other lithic raw materials than flint. In this context, the lithic assemblage of Payre level D, dated to the end of the MIS 6, offers the opportunity to make some considerations about the modalities of a discoid technology on various lithic raw materials. Payre is a very well-known Middle Palaeolithic site located on the right edge of the Middle Rhône valley. Three main archaeological levels attest an intense human frequentation of the site between the end of MIS 8 and the beginning of MIS 5. The rich faunal and lithic assemblages, recovered during systematic excavations from 1990 to 2002, have been deeply analysed for a precise understanding of the site formation processes and the modalities of the human occupation of the area. The exploitation of different local and semi-local raw materials made Payre an interesting case to observe how lithic resources with different petrographic characteristics were exploited by the Neanderthal groups. The present work aims to observe how the lithic raw materials have affected the discoid reduction sequences. This knapping method is widely attested in archaeological level D, the last large phase of human occupation at Payre. Among the different raw materials exploited (flint, vein quartz, quartzite, basalt and limestone), the discoid method is just applied on flint and vein quartz. The new technological analysis carried out focuses for the first time on the characteristics of the discoid technology present in level D and on the differences in discoid reduction sequences depending on the raw materials. The results indicate some expedients used to apply discoid reduction strategies on vein quartz and adapt this technology to the features of a coarse-grained stone. The use of such expedients testifies a large capability to manage the raw materials but also of the discoid method itself. Results allow to make considerations on some of the criteria proper to the technological definition of the method.

Technological analysis of lithic assemblages from surface collections. First evidence of a Palaeolithic frequentation of the Po plain in Piedmont: the case of Trino (north-western Italy)

“…Both the bifacial and the unifacial modalities are present: in the unifacial modality the striking platform mostly correspond to a neocortical surface. The discoid akes show a predominance of at (35) and natural (8) butts, thus con rming that the cores were usually not prepared before the beginning of the discoid production. The removals visible on the cores indicates that most of the discoid production is completed through centripetal removals, with no regards for the management of the core convexities.…”

“…The characteristics and dynamics of the Palaeolithic frequentation of Piedmont (north-western Italy) and of the western part of the southern margin of the Alps are barely known. At today, the only reliable data come from the Ciota Ciara cave (Borgosesia -VC) concerning Middle Palaeolithic (Angelucci et al, 2019;Berto et al, 2016;Buccheri et al, 2016;Daffara, 2018;Daffara et al, 2014) and from Castelletto Ticino -Via del Maneggio (NO) for Upper Palaeolithic (Berruti et al, 2017).…”

“…Focusing on Piedmont, the Ciota Ciara cave (Fig. 1, n° 11) is part of Monte Fenera's karst and since 2009 it is object of systematic excavations that allowed to date the occupation of the site to the second half of Middle Pleistocene and to understand in detail the modalities of site frequentation and the techno-economic behaviour of the human groups frequenting the site (Daffara, 2018). Castelletto Ticino -Via del Maneggio represents the only Upper Palaeolithic lithic assemblage issued from systematic archaeological excavations and it has been recently object of a new technological study that clearly ascribes the lithic industry to the Late Epigravettian (Berruti et al, 2017).…”

Timing of Neanderthal occupations in the southeastern margins of the Massif Central (France): A multi-method approach

“…The oldest archaeological units, G and F, are attributed to the early Middle Palaeolithic. The assemblage is mainly represented by scrapers and points and both discoidal and orthogonal core technologies were used on flint, attesting the variety of technological behaviours for this early phase of the Middle Palaeolithic (Chacón et al, 2016;Baena et al, 2017;Carmignani et al, 2017;Daffara et al, 2019). Some Levallois flakes were possibly introduced into the site for unit F. Flint was collected along the Rhodanian plateaus and some longdistance flint was collected over 60 km in the south (Fernandes et al, 2008).…”

Lithic raw material economy at the Huayang site in Northeast China: localization and diversification as adaptive strategies in the Late Glacial

“…Obtaining lithic raw materials is the first step in the sequence of lithic reduction, and also a first step in understanding different lithic technologies. The selection, acquisition, transport, and management of lithic raw materials can provide significant insight into people's economic activities on the landscape, including their technological organization, mobility patterns, land use strategies, and the extent of their trade and exchange networks (e.g., Andrefsky 1994Andrefsky , 2009Binford 1979;Adams and Blades 2009;Brantingham et al 2000;Daffara et al 2019;Ekshtain and Tryon 2019;Kuhn 2004;Li et al 2016;Wynn and McGrew 1989;Yang and Yue 2020). In East and Northeast Asia, lithic raw material studies have been extensively conducted to examine the adaptive strategies and behavior patterns of local populations in North China, the Russian Far East, and Japan, especially in the Late Pleistocene (e.g., Du 2003;Gao 2001;Izuho et al 2017;Kato 2017;Kuzmin et al 2008Kuzmin et al , 2013Li et al 2016;Ono et al 2014;Yang et al 2017a, b).…”