Abstract :
[fr] Les industries en matières dures animales solutréennes ont longtemps fait figure d’ensembles pauvres et peu caractéristiques. Le réexamen de plusieurs collections anciennes nous permet aujourd’hui de reconsidérer ce point de vue. À partir des sites du Fourneau-du-Diable, de Laugerie-Haute, de Badegoule et du Pech de la Boissière, en Dordogne, nous avons constitué un corpus de près de 2000 pièces. Malheureusement, les problèmes inhérents aux collections anciennes (sélection, tri, mélange, mauvais état de conservation, etc.) limitent notre compréhension des processus d’émergence, d’évolution et d’aboutissement du Solutréen. Néanmoins, l’étude détaillée de la phase récente révèle des productions en matières dures animales, diversifiées et originales. Dans l’équipement, l’originalité tient au nombre des outils dédiés à la taille des matières lithiques et plus particulièrement à la fréquence des outils à pointe mousse, probablement utilisés en compresseurs. Dans la parure, cette originalité est matérialisée par la présence d’éléments bilobés et de bracelets en ivoire. Identifiées dans la seule région du Sud-Ouest, ces formes constituent peut-être un marqueur régional du Solutréen récent. Elles sont néanmoins attestées dans d’autres ensembles culturels, mais l’éloignement géographique et/ou temporel ainsi que le manque de données relatives aux modalités de fabrication empêchent l’établissement de liens entre les différentes entités. En revanche, les outils à pointes mousses pourraient, au même titre que la retouche par pression, être considérés comme caractéristiques de l’ensemble de la période et marquer une rupture avec les autres cultures du Paléolithique supérieur.
[en] Compared to lithic implements, Solutrean bone industry has been considered for a long time as poor and not characteristic. The review of old collections allows us to reconsider this assumption. Four sites of South Western France, Fourneau-du-Diable, Laugerie-Haute, Badegoule and Pech-de-la-Boissière, in Dordogne, have yielded a corpus of 2000 bones artifacts, including 1,800 tools and 200 ornaments. By reconsidering them through a technological approach, our topic has been to shed light the specificity of Solutrean bone productions. Problems inherent to old collections are numerous, such as in Laugerie-Haute: selections, sorts, mixtures, bad degree of conservation, etc. They restrict our understanding of the emergence, evolution and outcome processes of the Solutrean culture. However, thanks to the abundance of upper Solutrean artifacts, particularities can be pointed out. A detailed analysis reveals diverse upper Solutrean bone productions with a particular composition. The bone equipment includes a large part of awls made from the same bones and shaped in the same way. There are a few projectile points, but with a wide range of forms, which could be related to hafting. The main originality consists in the abundance on each site of bone tools used for flint-knapping. These implements include hammers made on antler bases and on bone flakes, and antler smooth points. The formers match 20 % of the set. Their dentification as pressure flakers is supported by the use-wear of their extremities. They have been shaped with an original process: “notching”. Such technic has been also observed on Aurignacian V projectile points from Laugerie-Haute. Ornaments appear diverse in form and raw material: perforated shells, incisors and canines, beads and pendants in ivory, bone and antlers. However, for shells ornaments, a single technique of perforation by sawing has been recognized. The most striking feature is the presence on some sites of ivory bilobed beads and bracelets. Technological analysis has showed that both have been mass-produced. The production scheme of ivory bracelets reveals an original process of severing: the opposite sawing-grooving. Based on these first results from old collections, Solutrean bone production seems not only rich and diverse, but also specific. Unknown elsewhere in the upper Solutrean territories, ivory bilobed beads and bracelets could be a regional feature. Though these types of ornaments are known in others cultural groups, any linkage hypothesis would be very speculative due to the spatial and temporal gap, and the lack of technological datas. Smooth point tools and the inherent process of “ notching ” could be considered, such as the pressure retouch, as characteristic of Solutrean period by comparison with others upper Paleolithic cultures.
