“Undatable, unattractive, redundant”? The Rapavi silcrete source, Saint-Pierre-Eynac (Haute-Loire, France): Challenges studying a prehistoric quarry-workshop in the Massif Central mountains

Sykes, Rebecca Wragg; Delvigne, Vincent; Fernandes, Paul; Piboule, Michel; Lafarge, Audrey; Defive, Emmanuelle; Santagata, Carmen; Raynal, Jean‐Paul

doi:10.1016/j.jasrep.2017.07.022

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

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“…Though immensely significant for identifying a strong human signature in the landscape, high intra-site redundancy may in turn lead to superimposed occupations, frequently resulting in palimpsests, even spanning several millennia [6–9]. Inherent difficulties for the interpretation of such sites, for example the need of considering deposits as averaging multiple occupations can be problematic, especially for understanding variation in their use [10, 11]. Careful excavating techniques, direct AMS dating, and above all, a detailed knowledge of site formation processes, are required for the proper interpretation of such sites.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Late Pleistocene to early Holocene high-quality quartz crystal procurement from the Valiente quarry workshop site (32°S, Chile, South America)

Méndez

Delaunay

Seguel³

et al. 2018

PLoS ONE

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The procurement of high-quality lithic resources is amongst the most indicative processes of decision-making in the archaeology of early human groups peopling the Americas. Directly dated deposits from quarry workshops have been absent of the late Pleistocene record of South America. We present the results of the excavations of a high-quality translucent quartz crystal workshop that yielded radiocarbon-dated coherently layered stratigraphic deposits that shed light into the behavior of the initial stages of lithic procurement. Based on a detailed analysis of the context of the Valiente site (32° S, Chile, South America), we discuss the stages of bifacial production of point technology. The deposit produced evidence of cumulative occupations over the period between 12,630 and 11,320 calibrated years before present. This ~1,300-year span is coincidental with a major environmental step-wise drying trend as indicated by the local and regional pollen records. Furthermore, it is synchronous to the process in which natural landscapes became the earliest taskscapes in the region, thereby encompassing major cultural changes related to the organization of the land use. These results are discussed in the frame of contemporaneous archaeological data to discuss specific aspects of technology and decision-making of the earliest settlers of South America.

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