Fig 1.
Examples of Gravette and microgravette points from Level 3.
Fig 2.
Examples of truncated backed pieces from Level 3.
Drawings P. Laurent [100].
Table 1.
Frequencies of backed tools in the Movius collection from Level 3 of Abri Pataud [88 table 53].
Fig 3.
Drawings P. Laurent [85] and L. Chiotti.
Fig 4.
An example of a Level 2 backed bladelet with a snap break at both ends.
AP/58-2-662, Senonian flint.
Table 2.
Classification of the Level 2 backed bladelets according to Kong-Cho [101 p. 250].
Table 3.
The composition of the Level 3 backed tool low and high magnification samples.
Table 4.
The composition of the Level 2 backed piece low and high magnification samples.
Fig 5.
Impact damage on experimental armatures.
a. A ventrally initiated bending break with a fissured step termination on microgravette point Exp. 46/59 (25×); b. A bending break with long propagation initiated on the backed edge and terminated on the opposite edge, associated with dorsal secondary damage, on microgravette Exp. 46/342 (10×); c. Secondary damage on the break shown in b., partly showing crushed initiations (90×); d. A dorsally initiated bending break with a complex termination combining step (1), hinge with fissure (2), and feather (3) on tanged point Exp. 78/24 (photo J. Coppe); e. Invasive obliquely oriented lateral scarring, some with fissured terminations, on microgravette Exp. 46/217 (20×); f. A small tip break initiated on the lateral edge and heavy obliquely oriented edge damage with crushed initiations and fissured terminations on tanged point Exp. 78/10 (10×).
Fig 6.
MLITs (microscopic linear impact traces) associated with tip break on a microlithic experimental armature Exp. 3/26 (200×).
Fig 7.
Width and thickness measurements for the experimental intentionally snapped bladelets, shown next to an archaeological sample (n = 24).
Fig 8.
Production-related damage on experimental and archaeological backed bladelets.
a. An oblique snap break on Exp. 48/113, broken accidentally during backing (25×); b. A secondary scar on accidentally snapped Exp. 48/93 (63×); c. Two similar secondary scars on archaeological piece AP/59-3-1771, interpreted as a production discard; d. A fissured step termination on intentionally snapped Exp. 48/107 (50×); e. A bending-initiated step/fissure-terminated break with a long propagation on Exp. 48/100, produced by intentional snapping (20×); f. A step/fissure-terminated secondary removal opposite to incipient removals on the intentionally snapped Exp. 48/92 (32×); g. Secondary removals on dorsal ridge on the intentionally snapped Exp. 48/95 (25×); h. Continuous secondary scarring with partly removed initiations on the dorsal aspect of the intentionally snapped backed bladelet Exp. 48/90 (50×).
Table 5.
Terminations recorded on the intentionally snapped experimental bladelets (Exp. 48/88–113).
Fig 9.
Length (in mm) of secondary scars associated with bending breaks in the experimental sample of intentionally snapped bladelets (n = 20) with and without fissures associated with the terminations.
Fig 10.
A backing break with a cone initiation (arrow) and a clear bulb on AP/58-3-1473.
Table 6.
Preliminary classification of the breaks observed in the Level 3 backed tool sample for which basic recording was done.
Table 7.
The screened Level 2 backed piece collection divided into preliminary categories according to the presence/absence of use-related damage and technological characteristics.
Fig 11.
Evidence of impact on Gravette point from Level 3 (AP/59-3-1799, Bergerac flint).
a. An elongated secondary removal ("burination") initiated on a break (b); b. Bending-initiated break with a short propagation and a fissured step termination at the distal end of the armature, associated with secondary damage on the surface of initiation (a); c. Obliquely oriented bending-initiated lateral scarring (direction indicated with arrows) on the ventral aspect of the cutting edge, showing dominantly stepped, partly fissured terminations; d. MLITs (indicated with arrows) associated with lateral scarring on the dorsal aspect of the cutting edge (50×); e. Proximal break with a bending initiation on the cutting edge and feather termination on the backed edge.
Fig 12.
Bending breaks on Level 3 armatures.
a. A dorsally initiated break terminating in a fissured step (fissure marked with arrow) on Gravette point AP/59-3-1798; b. A bending break initiated on the backed edge and twisting onto the ventral aspect of the opposite (cutting) edge on microgravette AP/59-3-1731 (Senonian flint); c. Fissured step termination of the break shown in b. on the cutting edge of the armature (fissure indicated with arrow). Note the large secondary scar initiated on the break surface.
Fig 13.
Impact damage (lateral removals) on Level 3 artefacts.
a. Obliquely oriented lateral scarring and a nearly detached secondary scar on AP/58-3-847 (truncated backed bladelet, Senonian flint); b. Friction polish associated with the damage shown in a., created by the detached chips (linearity marked with an arrow); c. Two locations with invasive lateral scarring on a very narrow backed bladelet (“nanogravette”) AP/58-3-1210.
Fig 14.
MLITs associated with minor edge damage on truncated backed piece AP/59-3-1954 (Senonian flint).
Table 8.
The number of confident projectile identifications in the Abri Pataud Level 3 backed tool sample.
Table 9.
Frequencies of macroscopic features on the Level 3 armatures identified with a high degree of confidence.
Fig 15.
Examples of lateral damage and other impact scars on Level 2 armatures.
a. A bending-initiated break and heavy bifacial edge damage showing two main orientations on AP/58-2-576 (Senonian flint); b. An invasive obliquely oriented scar on AP/58-2-862 (Senonian flint); c. A perpendicular removal with an overshot termination on AP/63-2-2064; d. A longitudinal removal (burination) on AP/58-2-595 (Senonian flint); e. A longitudinal removal (burination) on AP/58-2-610 (Senonian flint).
Table 10.
Frequencies of macroscopic features on the Level 2 armatures identified with a high degree of confidence.
Fig 16.
MLITs on the Level 2 backed pieces.
a. Ventral distal extremity of AP/89-2-261, associated with a snap break; b. Ventral distal right edge of AP/58-2-938, associated with lateral removals; c. Dorsal distal left edge of AP/58-2-801, associated with lateral removals; d. Ventral medial right surface of AP58-2-595, associated with secondary scars. All 200×.
Table 11.
Location of secondary scarring associated with the snap breaks with respect to the break’s termination.
Fig 17.
Bending breaks on Level 2 armatures.
a. A ventrally initiated step-terminating break associated with lateral scarring on AP/58-2-147 (Senonian flint); b. An edge-to-edge break with a fissured termination on AP/58-2-507 (Senonian flint); c. A ventrally initiated break with a shallow step termination on AP/89-2-54 (Senonian flint).
Fig 18.
Relative frequencies of main impact damage categories in the Abri Pataud Level 3 and 2 samples of artefacts with strong evidence of projectile use.
Note that the number of observations for the Level 3 truncated backed pieces is very low. L3: Level 3, L2: Level 2, GRAV: Gravette point, MICRO: microgravette, NANO: nanogravette, TRUNC: truncated piece. For data, see S9 Appendix.
Fig 19.
Breaks on two artefacts interpreted as laterally hafted armatures from Level 3.
Left: a small dorsally bending-initiated feather-terminating break on the tip of AP/58-3-400; right: a dorsally bending-initiated step and fissure terminating break on AP/58-3-1363 (Senonian flint). Note that in the absence of MLITs, the breaks could also be the result of production. The projectile identifications are based on combinations of features (e.g. lateral removals).
Fig 20.
Two examples of oblique bending breaks from Level 2 and Level 3.
a. AP/58-2-147; b. AP/58-3-994.
Fig 21.
Location of bending break initiations in the Pataud Level 3 and 2 projectile samples for groups containing more than 10 observations.
The breaks for which direction could not be determined are left out. Note the low number of observations for nanogravettes.
Table 12.
Location of initiation for bending breaks in the Level 3 and 2 projectile samples.
Fig 22.
A break initiated and terminated on an edge on the partially backed bladelet AP/58-2-748 (Senonian flint).
Fig 23.
Removals linked to shaft contact or barb collision.
a. An obliquely oriented elongated removal initiated on the backed edge on AP758-2-780 (Senonian flint). Note the large shallow scar on the opposite edge; b. A longitudinal removal initiated on the truncation on AP/63-2-1922 (Senonian flint). Note the preserved termination of a much larger, fissure-terminating removal that the smaller scar cuts and that is cut by the truncation.
Fig 24.
Well-developed longitudinal polish on AP/63-2-2018 (400×).
Table 13.
Representation of terrestrial mammals in the faunal material from Pataud according to recent zooarchaeological studies [33, 34].