Bone retouchers fromLower Palaeolithic sites... (original) (raw)
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Bone retouchers are more common during the Middle Palaeolithic (from MIS 7 to 3) and are now considered as a part of the tool kit of Neanderthals. In Middle Pleistocene and Lower Palaeolithic assemblages , they are few in number and attest to the scarcity of use of bones as material for shaping tools. Some MIS 11 to MIS 9 sites allow the description of the onset of bone use and its multiplication after the MIS 9 attests of another functional relationship between bones and hominins. Our aim is to provide details about the bone retouchers found in some MIS 11e9 sites with lithic assemblages, often described as late Acheulean, that include handaxes and heavy-duty tools. The sites sampled are Terra Amata (southeast France, MIS 11), Orgnac 3 (southeast France, MIS 9e8), Cagny l'Epinette (Northern France, MIS 9) and Cueva del Angel (Spain, MIS 11e7). The study examined the number of retouchers, their support and type of animal, types of marks, bone sizes, and the lithic and faunal contexts. While bone retouchers sometimes total several hundreds of pieces in Middle Palaeolithic sites, our Lower Palaeolithic corpus yields generally between 1 and 6 retouchers. Retouchers are always made on fragments of bones from the main hunted species (horses, large bovids and cervids). Marks on bone retouchers indicate specific processes for selecting fragments of bones, and hypotheses are provided on their method of use. Categories may be suggested according to their types of support (diaphysis, epiphysis) as well as their types of marks, and allow us to suggest hypotheses for the retouching of both bifacial tools and flake-tools as well as for direct percussion. The results are compared with other sites from which bone retouchers were already published (Cueva del Bolomor, Gran Dolina TD10 in Spain, and La Micoque in France and Qesem in Israel). They are also compared with younger Acheulean assemblages such as Lazaret cave in France.
Quaternary International, 2015
Bone retouchers are more common during the Middle Palaeolithic (from MIS 7 to 3) and are now considered as a part of the tool kit of Neanderthals. In Middle Pleistocene and Lower Palaeolithic assemblages, they are few in number and attest to the scarcity of use of bones as material for shaping tools. Some MIS 11 to MIS 9 sites allow the description of the onset of bone use and its multiplication after the MIS 9 attests of another functional relationship between bones and hominins. Our aim is to provide details about the bone retouchers found in some MIS 11–9 sites with lithic assemblages, often described as late Acheulean, that include handaxes and heavy-duty tools. The sites sampled are Terra Amata (south-east France, MIS 11), Orgnac 3 (south-east France, MIS 9–8), Cagny l'Epinette (Northern France, MIS 9) and Cueva del Angel (Spain, MIS 11–7). The study examined the number of retouchers, their support and type of animal, types of marks, bone sizes, and the lithic and faunal contexts. While bone retouchers sometimes total several hundreds of pieces in Middle Palaeolithic sites, our Lower Palaeolithic corpus yields generally between 1 and 6 retouchers. Retouchers are always made on fragments of bones from the main hunted species (horses, large bovids and cervids). Marks on bone retouchers indicate specific processes for selecting fragments of bones, and hypotheses are provided on their method of use. Categories may be suggested according to their types of support (diaphysis, epiphysis) as well as their types of marks, and allow us to suggest hypotheses for the retouching of both bifacial tools and flake-tools as well as for direct percussion. The results are compared with other sites from which bone retouchers were already published (Cueva del Bolomor, Gran Dolina TD10 in Spain, and La Micoque in France and Qesem in Israel). They are also compared with younger Acheulean assemblages such as Lazaret cave in France.
International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 2023
Bone retouchers are a technological appliance used to perfect lithic tools efficiently. They are most frequently found in Middle Palaeolithic contexts. In this paper, we present a group of bone retouchers from the Mousterian Level XV of the Sopeña rock shelter (Asturias, Spain). The bone part preferred was the middle part of the shaft of long bones: Most of them are on metacarpals, followed by metatarsals, femurs, and tibias. The most used animal species is adult red deer. These retouchers have either one, two, or three active areas, with a central disposition. The impact marks are close together; oval pits are common, as well as straight, sinuous, and irregular grooves.
A reappraisal of Lower to Middle Paleolithic bone retouchers from southeastern France (MIS 9 to 3)
2015
In southeastern France, many Final Acheulean/Early Middle Palaeolithic and Middle Palaeolithic assemblages have yielded bone retouchers. The oldest are dated to the Middle Pleistocene: from MIS 11 at Terra Amata; MIS 9 at Orgnac 3; and MIS 6-7 at Payre F, Sainte-Anne I and Le Lazaret. However, this early evidence of bone tool use only concerns a few dozen pieces among thousands of faunal and lithic remains. These retouchers indicate behavioural changes from MIS 11-9 onwards in southeastern France, associated with a mosaic of technological and subsistence changes that became more common during the Middle Palaeolithic. The frequency of these bone artefacts increases during MIS 7, becoming much more numerous after MIS 5, sometimes totaling more than a hundred items at one site, such as Saint-Marcel Cave. Bone retoucher frequency is still highly variable throughout the Middle Palaeolithic and seems to be determined by the type of occupation and activities rather than the associated lithic technologies. This broad, regional comparative analysis contributes to a better understanding of the technical behaviour developed by Neanderthals, as well as their Middle Pleistocene ancestors, and their ability to recover and use bones.
A REAPPRAISAL OF LOWER TO MIDDLE PALAEOLITHIC BONE RETOUCHERS FROM SOUTHEASTERN FRANCE (MIS 11 TO 3)
"The Origins of Bone Tool Technologies" Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum (Mainz), 2017
CAMILLE DAUJEARD · PATRICIA VALENSI · IVANA FIORE · ANNE-MARIE MOIGNE ANTONIO TAGLIACOZZO · MARIE-HÉLÈNE MONCEL · CARMEN SANTAGATA · DOMINIQUE CAUCHE · JEAN-PAUL RAYNAL In southeastern France, many Final Acheulean/Early Middle Palaeolithic and Middle Palaeolithic assemblages have yielded bone retouchers. The oldest are dated to the Middle Pleistocene: from MIS 11 at Terra Amata; MIS 9 at Orgnac 3; and MIS 6-7 at Payre F, Sainte-Anne I and Le Lazaret. However, this early evidence of bone tool use only concerns a few dozen pieces among thousands of faunal and lithic remains. These re-touchers indicate behavioural changes from MIS 11-9 onwards in southeastern France, associated with a mosaic of technological and subsistence changes that became more common during the Middle Palaeolithic. The frequency of these bone artefacts increases during MIS 7, becoming much more numerous after MIS 5, sometimes totaling more than a hundred items at one site, such as Saint-Marcel Cave. Bone retoucher frequency is still highly variable throughout the Middle Palaeolithic and seems to be determined by the type of occupation and activities rather than the associated lithic technologies. This broad, regional comparative analysis contributes to a better understanding of the technical behaviour developed by Neanderthals, as well as their Middle Pleistocene ancestors, and their ability to recover and use bones.
From west to east: Lower and Middle Palaeolithic bone retouchers in Northern France
HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), 2018
At the end of the Lower Palaeolithic and into the Middle Palaeolithic, Neanderthals inhabited northern France, and many archaeological sites preserve accumulations of various lithic industries, sometimes associated with bones. From a few sites, the faunal remains show traditional marks of anthropic activities linked with butchery, including skinning, dismembering, meat fi lleting and marrow extraction. Some bones also present surface modifi cations characteristic of utilisation as tools; these are called retouchers or retouchoirs. The oldest site, the Acheulean occupation at Cagny-l'Épinette (Somme), yielded only six retouchers. In comparison, the main collection of the Middle Palaeolithic site of Biache-Saint-Vaast (Pas-de-Calais) contained 333 of these objects. Here, we also present new data on the retouchers from two more recent Middle Palaeo lithic sites: Le Rozel (Manche) and Mutzig (Bas-Rhin). A regional synthesis of previously published and un published archaeological materials allows for new insights into the functionality of bone retouchers from northern France. This study suggests a relative homogeneity and standardization in Neanderthal behaviour and bone tool utilization for tens of thousands of years, with some differences from site to site. Most retouchers were made from herbivore limb bone diaphyses, but also on brown bear at Biache-Saint-Vaast. At le Rozel, a red deer mandible was used as retoucher. The pattern of utilization of the bones is variable, ranging from only a few clustered scores to a huge loss of cortical bone material linked to intense activity, and sometimes with up to four use areas on the same bone. In this study, we explore the many factors that may account for these differences.
The over-representation of faunal remains, the particularity of the carcass processing and the lithic industry suggest that the Les Pradelles Mousterian site was used as a task specific location dedicated to the exploitation of reindeer, killed in large number during their migrations. This study focuses on Facies 4a, where almost 500 retouchers were recovered. We discuss the place of retouchers in the technical equipment of the hunter-gatherers of Les Pradelles and the significance of their abundance in the context of a site involving short-term occupations for secondary butchery activities. The relatively stringent selection of blanks is most likely related to constraints caused by the use of reindeer bones whose intrinsic qualities were not necessarily optimal for use as retouchers. Despite the high number of available bone remains, some types of bones were routinely exploited, which leads us to suggest a selection of some blanks during the butchery stage rather than a selection of appropriate remains among the butchery waste. Based on comparisons with published experimental data, three major groups of retouchers have been identified and their roles in the preparation of lithic equipment have been established. The over-representation of retouchers compared to the number of abandoned scrapers in the cave attests to the exportation of a significant proportion of the scrapers. The "exported" tools were used either for activities carried out near the site or were part of the toolkit taken away during travel to other locations. These results demonstrate how retouchers help in characterizing the interconnections between the animal exploitation and the lithic tool production technical subsystems .
2015
The over-representation of faunal remains, the particularity of the carcass processing and the lithic industry suggest that the Les Pradelles Mousterian site was used as a task specific location dedicated to the exploitation of reindeer, killed in large number during their migrations. This study focuses on Facies 4a, where almost 500 retouchers were recovered. We discuss the place of retouchers in the technical equipment of the hunter-gatherers of Les Pradelles and the significance of their abundance in the context of a site involving short-term occupations for secondary butchery activities. The relatively stringent selection of blanks is most likely related to constraints caused by the use of reindeer bones whose intrinsic qualities were not necessarily optimal for use as retouchers. Despite the high number of available bone remains, some types of bones were routinely exploited, which leads us to suggest a selection of some blanks during the butchery stage rather than a selection o...
International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 2019
Middle Palaeolithic sites frequently present bones with a double function, linked to subsistence and technology, and which are generally referred to as "retouchers" or "bone retouchers". These have been identified in several European sites from the Middle Pleistocene to Holocene, but different explanations of their origin and functionality have been cited. Although bone retouchers were made using various animal parts, they were usually produced from diaphyseal fragments of medium to large hoofed mammals. We present a small assemblage of six bone retouchers recovered from Stratigraphic Unit Xa (52.3 ± 4.6 ka), in the Middle Palaeolithic site of El Salt (Alicante, Spain), and compare our data with previous studies from several sites in southwestern France, northern Italy, and northeastern Spain. These tools were generated using diaphyseal fragments from red deer, horses and other large mammals previously exploited by humans for meat and marrow. Our findings add to existing knowledge on the behaviour and faunal resource management of the last Neanderthal groups on the western Iberian Peninsula before they disappeared from the region around 45-40 ka.