Fig 1.
Early Middle Magdalenian cave or rock shelter sites of west-central France.
Basemap: Natural Earth, QGis software.
Fig 2.
Distribution of the elements characterising the tradition with Lussac-Angles points (red) and the tradition with navettes (blue).
1-Mascycka. 2-The Grappin cave. 3-Trilobite. 4-La Garenne (Blanchard cave, Grand Abri). 5-Roc-aux-Sorciers (Taillebourg cave, Bourdois rock shelter). 6-Taillis-des-Coteaux. 7-La Piscine. 8-La Marche. 9-Réseau Guy-Martin. 10-Les Fadets. 11-Le Chaffaud. 12-Le Placard. 13-Montgaudier. 14-Chaire-à-Calvin. 15-Roc-de-Sers. 16-La Peyzie. 17-The Fées cave. 18-Roc-de-Marcamps. 19-Saint-Germain-la-Rivière. 20-Laugerie-Haute. 21-Laugerie-Basse. 22-La Madeleine. 23-La Croze-à-Gontran. 24-Esclauzure. 25-Combe-Cuiller. 26-The Roussignol cave. 27-Pégourié. 28-Sainte-Eulalie. 29-Les Cambous. 30-Plantade. 31-The Gazel cave. 32-Canecaude I. 33-Enlène. 34-Marsoulas. 35-Les Sciles. 36-The Moulin cave. 37-Les Espélugues. 38-Espalungue. 39-Isturitz. 40-Brassempouy. 41-Harregi. 42-Abauntz. 43-El Mirón. 44-Tito Bustillo. 45-La Güelga. Credits for the picture of realistic human figure from the Roc-aux-Sorciers: O. Fuentes, MC-CNP. Basemap: Natural Earth, QGis software.
Fig 3.
Typical osseous artefacts of the tradition with navettes (A, B) and with Lussac-Angles (C).
A-Navette from the Blanchard cave n°2010.1.106, layer B4, credits: A. Dessolier, Musée d’Argentomagus. B-Double-bevelled point from the Roc-de-Marcamps, Maziaud collection, credits: Pétillon, 2016. C-Lussac-Angles point from La Marche, credits: J. Airvaux.
Fig 4.
Examples of post-depositional alteration on the archaeological material.
A, B-Striated bright spot on a bladelet from the Blanchard cave, layer B5, credits: Gauvrit Roux, 2019. C-Marginal non-striated bright spots on the distal edge of an endscraper from the Blanchard cave, layer B3. D-Marginal non-striated bright spots on the distal edge of an endscraper from the Blanchard cave, layer B4/B5. E, F-Rounding and bright spot on the ridge of a burin from La Marche, credits: Gauvrit Roux, 2019. G-Marginal white patina on the edge of an endscraper from La Marche. H-Fresh scars interrupting white patina on the lateral edge of a burin from La Marche.
Fig 5.
Experimental vegetal working traces on flint.
A, B-Cutting nettle, 10 mn. C, D-Sawing fresh chestnut tree, 10 mn. E, F-Sawing fresh lime tree, 10 mn.
Fig 6.
Experimental bone and antler working traces on flint.
A-Scraping fresh bone, 180 mn. B-Sawing moisturised antler, 15 mn. C, D-Sawing dry bone, 10 mn. E, F-Sawing dry antler, 10 mn.
Fig 7.
Experimental hide working traces on flint.
A, B-Cutting dry hide soaked in water, 30 mn. C, D-Scraping ochred dry hide with punctual moisturising, 30–40 mn. E, F- Scraping dry hide, 30–40 mn.
Fig 8.
Bladelet cores from La Marche.
A, B, D-Prismatic cores on block. C-Core on cortical flake. E-Pyramidal core on block recycled to strike and abrade hard materials. F-Percussion wears on core n°E. G-Abrasion wears on core n°E, credits: Gauvrit Roux, 2019.
Fig 9.
General chaîne opératoire from production to discard of blades and bladelets evidenced at La Marche and the Blanchard cave.
Fig 10.
A-Double burin on retouched blade from the Blanchard cave, layer B4. B-Burin on retouched and truncated blade from the Blanchard cave, layer B4. C-Burin on retouched blade from the Blanchard cave, layer B3. D-Large burin spall cutting through a distal endscraper from the Blanchard cave, layer B3. E-Burin on blade from La Marche. F-Microperforator on burin spall from La Marche. G, H-Wears of scraping an abrasive mineral with the distal burin facet of tool n°A, credits: Gauvrit Roux, 2019. I, J-Rounding of sawing a semi-hard abrasive material, interrupted by direct removals on the lateral edge of tool n°B. K, L-Scars due to sawing a semi-hard material with the lateral edge of tool n°C. M, N-Wears of grooving an osseous material with the burin bevel of tool n°E, credits: Gauvrit Roux, 2019.
Fig 11.
A-Endscraper on retouched blade from the Blanchard cave, layer B4. B-Endscraper on retouched blade from the Blanchard cave, layer B4/B5. C-Endscraper on blade from the Blanchard cave, layer B4/B5. D-Double endscraper on blade from La Marche. E-Endscraper-burin from La Marche. F, G-Rounding, shine, striations and polish of dry hide scraping on the distal end of tool n°A, credits: Gauvrit Roux, 2019. H-Rounding and striations due to dry hide scraping on the proximal end of tool n°C. I-Profile view of the fracture edge of tool n°C showing rounding due to scraping of a semi-hard abrasive material. J-Probable wood sawing micro-wears on the lateral edge of tool n°D. K-Dry hide scraping micro-wears on the proximal end of tool n°D. L-Hide rounding interrupted by direct sharpening retouch on the distal end of tool n°E. M-Abrupt edge caused by successive sharpenings of the distal end of tool n°E.
Fig 12.
A-Microperforator from the Blanchard cave, layer B5. B-Double beak from La Marche. C-Microperforator from La Marche. D, E-Wears and residues on the distal point of tool n°A due to perforating a colouring mineral with particularly thick abrasive particles, credits: Gauvrit Roux, 2019. F-Scars due to perforating a hard material with the tip of tool n°C. G-Rounding and scars due to perforating a semi-hard abrasive material on the proximal tip of tool n°B.
Fig 13.
Diversity of zones used on unretouched blades.
A-Mesial fragment of blade from the Blanchard cave, layer B4. B-Broken blade from the Blanchard cave, layer B3. C-Broken blade from the Blanchard cave, layer B4. D-Broken blade from La Marche. E, F-Traces of mineral scraping on the ridge of tool n°A, credits: Gauvrit Roux, 2019. G, H-Perforating traces on the proximal end of tool n°B. I, J-Perforating traces on the distal end of tool n°C.
Table 1.
Synthesis of the functional data for la Marche and the Blanchard cave in number of tools.
S/SA: soft or soft abrasive worked material. SH/SHA: semi-hard or semi-hard abrasive worked materials. H/HA: hard or hard abrasive. *Including double tools and tools on truncated, retouched or thinned and truncated blade. All the levels of the Blanchard cave are presented together because of the high similarity of results between them.
Fig 14.
A-Truncated simple backed bladelet from the Blanchard cave, layer B2. B-Double backed bladelet from the Blanchard cave, layer B4. C-Truncated double backed bladelet from the Blanchard cave, layer B3. D-Simple backed bladelet from the Blanchard cave, layer B5. E, G-Simple backed bladelet from La Marche. F, H-Truncated simple backed bladelet from La Marche. I-Burin-like spin-off fracture on tool n°A. J-Burin-like spin-off fracture on tool n°B. K-Facial spin-off fracture on tool n°C. L-Large isolated impact scar on tool n°D, credits: Gauvrit Roux, 2019. M-Large overlapped impact scars on tool n°E. N-Twisted bending fracture on tool n°F. O-Burin-like fracture on tool n°G. P-Oblique bending fracture interrupted by a snap fracture on tool n° H.
Table 2.
Seasonality data for the Early Middle Magdalenian sites of west-central France.
Black dots: certain; Empty dots: uncertain. Data after Bayle et al. (2009), P. and J. Bouchud in Pradel (1958), Valensi (2010), Valensi and Boulbes (2018).