Micro-PIXE studies on prehistoric chert tools: elemental mapping to determine Palaeolithic lithic procurement

Abstract

This paper contributes to an understanding of the distances and choices involved in raw material procurement strategies by Upper Palaeolithic communities through a Pyrenean geoarchaeological case study. Methodologically it involved using Particle Induced X-ray Emission (PIXE) with a focused proton beam to determine the concentration and distribution of elements in geological samples from three natural primary outcrops belonging to two geological formations outcropping in the French side of the Pyrenees. While it was not possible to distinguish the formation through reference to major and minor elements, some variations were revealed at the trace elemental level. With the aim to determine if these elements were associated with the Si matrix or to a specific inclusion, elemental maps were acquired and the elemental composition of the identified inclusions were also determined. These chemical signatures were then compared to those generated from archaeological artefacts from sites in northern Spain as a means of reconstructing the catchment areas used by prehistoric groups for their chert procurement. The results indicate the existence of trans-Pyrenean long distance procurement strategies during the Magdalenian (13700 to the 18800 cal BP).

Lithic raw material procurement at the Chaves cave (Huesca, Spain): A geochemical approach to defining Palaeolithic human mobility

“…In the south of France, particularly in the Pyrenean region, although such studies started some decades earlier with the works by Meroc (1944), Séronie‐Vivien and Séronie‐Vivien (1987), and Simonnet (1982, 1999), among others, the first years of the 21st century were also highly productive (Briois, 2005; Foucher, 2004; Grégoire, 2000; Lacombe, 2005; Normand, 2002). In recent decades other techniques to characterise lithic sources have been applied, with some examples in NE Iberia and the south of France of mineralogical and geochemical approaches (Roy‐Sunyer, 2016; Sánchez de la Torre, 2015; Sánchez de la Torre, Angyal, et al, 2017; Sánchez de la Torre, Angyal, et al 2019; Sánchez de la Torre, Le Bourdonnec, Dubernet, et al, 2017; Sánchez de la Torre, Le Bourdonnec, Gratuze, Domingo, et al, 2017).…”

Piecing together a new mosaic: Gravettian lithic resources and economic territories in the Western Pyrenees

“…Finally, in the last decade, new methods and approaches have been added to the study of lithic raw materials (e.g. Fernandes 2012;Prieto et al 2016;Sánchez de la Torre et al 2019). However, in the case of the Gravettian technocomplex the analysis of lithic resources has been scarce and sometimes preliminary and very partial (Simonet 2010;2012a;Tarriño and Elorrieta 2012).…”