Can stone tool hafting reflect Upper Palaeolithic social dynamics? New data from Abri Pataud, Hohle Fels, and Maisières-Canal

Study of stone tool hafting extends the scope of traceological analysis into the reconstruction of composite tools, which aids in assessing the time and resources invested in Palaeolithic technology independently of the level of organic preservation. We present the results of a PhD project that investigated stone tool hafting at three Gravettian and Magdalenian sites located in Western and Central Europe. The data from a functional
screening of tens of thousands of stone tools and a detailed use-wear analysis of
over 1000 artefacts recovered at the rock shelter Abri Pataud, the cave site Hohle
Fels, and the open-air site Maisières-Canal are used to describe and explain variability
in lithic tool hafting. Domestic tools are given here particular attention and, in the
case of Abri Pataud, studied in parallel with projectile armatures. We attempt to start
from the simplest mechanical explanations for the observed patterns and proceed
towards more complex ones involving the social organisation of subsistence and other
activities. Our analysis demonstrates that while certain patterns, such as the difference
in the relative frequency of scraper and burin hafting, are best explained by basic
task mechanical requirements and tool use preferences, others, such as the varying
frequency of hafted scrapers in different sub-assemblages, seem to require other
explanations. We show that scraper hafting likely predates the oldest assemblages
analysed here and is applied lexibly according to context. By ruling out explanations related to e.g. lithic raw material economy, we wish to show that the variability may be linked to the differences in the investment in hafted tool technologies, which is likely to have been related to social organisation. Based on these results, we argue that data on stone tool hafting can be valuable to enquiries into the ways in which past technologies were tied to their social contexts.