Not so unusual Neanderthal bone tools: new examples from Abri Lartet, France

Neanderthal bone tools are often seen as negligible, consisting mainly of retouchers made from diaphyseal fragments and recognizable by their impact marks. One category, however, stand out, consisting of elongated pieces with blunt ends, most often on ribs, whose shaping involved scraping and abrasion and which are regarded as anticipating Upper Paleolithic. They are termed lissoir (smoother or burnisher) by typological analogy, although the diversity of their active ends suggests a greater functional diversity than this designation implies. Their apparent standardization results from the use of anatomically suitable blanks that only required the shaping of an active end. Mostly reported in older publications as isolated finds, they are beginning to be found in greater quantities through the careful examination of faunal remains. We describe here a series partly published in the 1970s, completed by new pieces thanks to a recent reassessment of the assemblage, and we consider it in a broader perspective.