From the flake to the blade. The technological evolution of the blade phenomenon in southern Europe. Co-existence, interaction and alternation of two concepts of tools

Resumen

This work has been focused on the technological behaviours related to the appearance and development of the Middle Paleolithic blade productions in Southern Europe. Evidence of blade technology is confirmed in Northern Europe (France, Belgium), at least from the last part of the Middle Pleistocene (MIS 7). In MIS 5 these productions cover a larger area, which includes the North-Western Germany, central France, and occasionally the South of France. A third moment (MIS 4-3) shows us the reappearance of laminar productions in Southern Europe and more particularly in the South of France and the Italian peninsula. At the present state of research these three phases appear as on-and-off events without a clear evolutionary continuity. Reduction strategies used include a variety of production methods whose complexity cannot be explained simply with the dichotomy Levallois laminar production – Volumetric laminar production. The aim of this research project intends to examine, through a technological approach, the lithic assemblages of two sites located in the South of France (Payre and Bau de l 'Aubesier) and two in the Italian peninsula (Riparo Tagliente and Grotta del Cavallo). The main objective is to study the aspects connected with the technical laminar systems through a dual approach which takes into account the aspects related to the production of blades and their coexistence with other type of reduction strategies aimed to produce flakes. Simplifying what is produced trough the lithic production, we can identify three categories of possible products: flakes and blades, produced by knapping operations (débitage), and hand axes (lato sensu) by shaping operations (façonnage). If the shaping operations contain a conceptual structure of modelling a morphology from a block of raw material, the dichotomy flake-blade, is, at a macroscopic scale, a double variant of the same theme, that is the separation of a support from a volume. The presence of laminar production is now widely attested since the Middle Pleistocene and at several latitudes (Africa, the Near East and Europe). Since the beginning of its discovery the Middle Paleolithic blade production has attracted the attention of scientific community for many reasons. The specific morpho-technical features of blade have acquired a double value; the role of cultural marker as technological innovation, and, according to some authors, that of indirect evidence of biological status, i.e. the emergence of the anatomically modern human (AMH). Despite the current difficulties in clearly defining the laminar phenomenon of the Middle Paleolithic, it is possible to draw a synthesis outline. If we restrict our study to Europe, it is possible to identify at least three different and non-continuous presence of blade production. The first evidences of laminar productions are found in Northern Europe at end of MIS 8 to the MIS 7 (RÉVILLION 1995), both resulting from volumetric debitage production (like in the sites of Coquelles, Saint Valery sur Sommes, Bapaume-les Osiers, Terdonne, Rissori), and from Levallois productions (like in the sites of Bagarre and Biache-Saint-Vaast). In the sites mentioned above the laminar element assumes rarely a dominant role. On the contrary, we find it in conjunction with other production systems, including the most frequent Levallois concept débitage. In the MIS 5 a second phase arise and the presence of blades in Northern France evidences multiply. Sites like Riencourt lès-Bapaume, Saint- Germain-des-Vaux, Seclin, Bettencourt-Saint-Ouen, Blangy-Tronville, Etouteville, Fresnov-au-Val, show a great variability in how to derive the laminar supports. This does not allow a specific grouping under a common name. The initial stage of the reduction systems can leverage on the preparation of a crested blade or using al long natural ridge of the block. The débitage can follow the unidirectional or bidirectional exploitation and raw materials utilized include pebbles, nodules or slabs. In the same age (MIS 5) we find such productions spread over a larger area: in the North-West of Germany, in the sites of Tonchesberg, Reindhalen and Wallertheim and in central France, in the sites of Angé and Vinneuf. The current explanation of the origin of these products is not unanimously accepted. In some specific cases, some authors have hypothesized a possible opportunistic answer motivated by optimizing the use of raw materials (CONARD 1990). However, this constraint can not be valid in areas with plenty of flint, such as the North of France. Other authors have supposed the reason being the response to an environmental crisis (OTTE 1994). The duration and diffusion of the laminar phenomenon in different areas however suggest caution in giving a mono-factor explanation to its appearance and diffusion. A third phase of blade production can be positioning during the MIS 4 and the beginning of MIS 3. During this period blade production show a larger spread which include the southern and the eastern Europe. In southern France, in fact, although this phenomenon would be first sporadically tracked in the final stages of the isotopic stage 5, it’s in the stage MIS 4 that it actually takes on a certain consistency. Archaeological sites as the Abris du Maras, Baume Flandin, Grand Champ, Tournal Caves, Grotte du Figuier are some of the most outstanding evidences. As far as the Italian Peninsula is concerned, laminar production doesn’t have evidence dating back to earlier periods of isotopic stage 4. On the other hand, in Italy the sites holding a laminar component seem to be concentrated in the later phases of the Middle Palaeolithic and especially in the first part of isotopic stage 3. At the present state of research the laminar phenomenon in the Italian peninsula appears therefore with a certain delay compared to the south of France. The geographical distribution of these products does not seem confined to a territory or a specific environment. We find, in fact, volumetric laminar production in the Puglia region at the sites of Santa Croce and Grotta del Cavallo, in Lazio at Cave Breuil, in Molise at Grotta Reali, in Veneto at Fumane and Riparo Tagliente and in Liguria at Grotta di San Francesco. In parallel to the emergence of the laminar volumetric systems, the Levallois concept seems to be redirected towards the production of elongated blanks at the expense of the flake modules. This phenomenon, as in the blade volumetric production, is found throughout the Italian peninsula: in Liguria, in the sites of Riparo Mochi and Barma Grande, in Veneto in the sites of Fumane, in Campania in the sites of Riparo del Poggio and Castelcivita, in Puglia in the site of Riparo dell’Oscurusciuto. In some cases, the coexistence of the two systems, Levallois and Laminar, seems to correspond to distinct production goals. At Grotta del Cavallo the Levallois production follows a unidirectional - bidirectional method for the production of sub-quadrangular flakes, while the volumetric system is dedicated to the production of blades (CARMIGNANI 2010). Although the laminar production in the Middle Paleolithic is now proved, the production of bladelet seems to be a phenomenon confined to the final stages of the Mousterian cycle and numerically marginal. Some bladelet productions are found in Spain, in the site of El Castillo and Cueva Morin, in France, in the site of Grand Champ, in Italy in the site of Grotta Cavallo and Fumane and, in Germany, in the site of Balver Höhle. More generally we can observe that at the end of the Mousterian cycle the operational patterns shows a strong differentiation and the laminar production is one of the most evident expressions. The origin of this fragmentation is questionable. In a wider set of problems, the role of the blade takes in our opinion a key role, both in terms of its potential morpho-functional features and for the role it plays in the evolution of techniques. This project's main objectives were aimed to redefine the Middle Paleolithic blade production by four main question. At the current state of the research the description of the Middle Paleolithic blades production is often identified using a binary pattern wich is the distinction between Levallois and non Levallois; the latter one usually related to a volumetric reduction strategies. This dicotomy looks reductive when compared to the complexity of the phenomenon. Not to forget that the definition of blade substantially includes all the blanks that in an undifferentiated way correspond to a mainly morphologic character (Lenght> 2Width). The study of the reduction strategies in the four sites will allow us to better define the production targets bypassing an hylemorphic approach. Is the actual description of the Middle blade production enough exhaustive to show us the technological varibilty of the balde phenomenon? The recurrent coexistence of blades and flakes reduction strategies open a question on the relation between these two blanks categories. One of the main goals it was to understand the dichotomy flake- blade in relation to their respective reduction strategies by a comparative analysis. Has the rise of the blades an impact on the flakes reduction systems? The laminar phenomenon in Europe spanning more than 200,000 years of technological evolution. Nerthless blades doesn’t appear at the same time in all the region. If northern Europe show its presence since the MIS 7 is just during the MIS 5 that blades are attested in southern europe and specifically in southern France. This second insurgence of baldes seem to anticipate the same phenomenon that will recur in Italy but just during isotope stages 4 and 3. Are these three events part of a single macro-phenomenon or on contrarly, they rise from diffenrent techno-cultural identity with independent origins.