[en] The timing and mechanisms underlying the gradual replacement of Neanderthal populations by Homo sapiens groups have elicited heated debate for decades. The Châtelperronian of France and northern Spain has figured prominently in these discussions. While the Neanderthal authorship of this techno-complex is far less certain than previously thought, the Châtelperronian is now generally accepted as being among the first genuine Upper Paleolithic industries in Eurasia rather than a "transitional" stone tool technology. Here, we report the first association of shell beads with Châtelperronian artifacts from new excavations at the site of La-Roche-à-Pierrot, Saint-Césaire (France), supported by a multiproxy spatial analysis that incorporates site formation processes. Similar types of personal ornaments are unknown from Middle Paleolithic contexts. Comparable examples have, however, been recovered from contexts penecontemporaneous with the Châtelperronian in south-eastern Europe and around the Mediterranean. This hitherto undocumented combination of an early Upper Paleolithic industry and shell beads provides insights into cultural variability in western Europe and raises the question as to whether the makers of the Châtelperronian were influenced by or formed part of the earliest dispersals of H. sapiens into the region.
Disciplines :
Archaeology
Author, co-author :
Bachellerie, François; Archéologie Alsace, Sélestat 67600, France ; De la Préhistoire à l'Actuel:Culture, Environnement et Anthropologie, UMR 5199 PACEA, CNRS, Université de Bordeaux, Ministère de la Culture, Pessac 33600, France
Gravina, Brad; De la Préhistoire à l'Actuel:Culture, Environnement et Anthropologie, UMR 5199 PACEA, CNRS, Université de Bordeaux, Ministère de la Culture, Pessac 33600, France ; Musée national de Préhistoire, Les Eyzies 24620, France
Rigaud, Solange ; De la Préhistoire à l'Actuel:Culture, Environnement et Anthropologie, UMR 5199 PACEA, CNRS, Université de Bordeaux, Ministère de la Culture, Pessac 33600, France
Dayet, Laure; Environnement Dynamique et Territoires de la Montagne, UMR 5204 EDYTEM, CNRS, Université Savoie Mont Blanc, Le Bourget du Lac 73376, France
Thomas, Marc; Travaux et Recherches Archéologiques sur les Cultures, les Espaces et les Sociétés, UMR 5608 TRACES, CNRS, Université de Toulouse Jean Jaurès, Toulouse 31058, France
Lebreton, Loïc ; Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES-CERCA), Tarragona 43007, Spain ; Departament d'Història i Història de l'Art, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona 43002, Spain
Morin, Eugène ; Department of Anthropology, Trent University, Peterborough, ON K9J 7B8, Canada
Lesage, Camille ; Interdisciplinary Center for Archaeology and the Evolution of Human Behaviour, ICArEHB, Faculdade das Ciências Humanas e Sociais, Universidade do Algarve, 8005-139 Faro, Portugal
Falguères, Christophe ; Histoire Naturelle des Humanités Préhistoriques, UMR 7194 HNHP, Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle-CNRS-Université Perpignan Via Domitia, Paris 75013, France
Bard, Edouard ; Centre de recherche et d'enseignementdes géosciences de l'environnement, CEREGE, Aix-Marseille Université, CNRS, Institut de recherche pour le développement, Recherches pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement, Collège de France, Aix-en-Provence 13545, France
Bahain, Jean-Jacques ; Histoire Naturelle des Humanités Préhistoriques, UMR 7194 HNHP, Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle-CNRS-Université Perpignan Via Domitia, Paris 75013, France
Baillet, Mickaël; School of Art and Archaeology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, P.R. China
Beauval, Cédric; Société à responsabilité limitée Archéosphère, Quillan 11500, France
Bordes, Jean-Guillaume; De la Préhistoire à l'Actuel:Culture, Environnement et Anthropologie, UMR 5199 PACEA, CNRS, Université de Bordeaux, Ministère de la Culture, Pessac 33600, France
Culioli, Gérald; Institut Méditerranéen de Biodiversité et d'Ecologie marine et continentale, IMBE, Aix-Marseille Université, Avignon Université, CNRS, IRD, Avignon 84029, France
Devièse, Thibaut ; Centre de recherche et d'enseignementdes géosciences de l'environnement, CEREGE, Aix-Marseille Université, CNRS, Institut de recherche pour le développement, Recherches pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement, Collège de France, Aix-en-Provence 13545, France
Flas, Damien ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département des sciences historiques > Archéologie préhistorique ; Laboratoire Méditerranéen de Préhistoire Europe Afrique, UMR 7269 LAMPEA, Aix-Marseille Université, Aix-en-Provence13097, France
Garbé, Lisa ; Histoire Naturelle des Humanités Préhistoriques, UMR 7194 HNHP, Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle-CNRS-Université Perpignan Via Domitia, Paris 75013, France
Guérin, Guillaume ; Géosciences Rennes, UMR 6118, CNRS, Université de Rennes 1, Rennes 35042, France
Lacrampe-Cuyaubère, François; Société à responsabilité limitée Archéosphère, Quillan 11500, France
Lahaye, Christelle; Archéosciences Bordeaux, UMR 6034, CNRS, Université Bordeaux Montaigne, École Pratique des Hautes Études-Paris Sciences et Lettres University, Université de Bordeaux, Pessac 33607, France
Mallol, Carolina; Instituto Universitario de Bio-Orgánica Antonio González, Universidad de La Laguna, La Laguna, Santa Cruz de Tenerife 38206, Spain
Marot, Josserand; Service départemental de l'Archéologie, Conseil départemental de la Charente-Maritime, Saint-Césaire 17770, France
Maureille, Bruno ; De la Préhistoire à l'Actuel:Culture, Environnement et Anthropologie, UMR 5199 PACEA, CNRS, Université de Bordeaux, Ministère de la Culture, Pessac 33600, France
Michel, Alexandre ; Service départemental de l'Archéologie, Conseil départemental de la Dordogne, Périgueux 24000, France
Muth, Xavier ; SARL Get in Situ, Riex CH1097, Switzerland
Regniers, Olivier; i-Sea, Pessac 33600, France
Tartar, Elise ; Travaux et Recherches Archéologiques sur les Cultures, les Espaces et les Sociétés, UMR 5608 TRACES, CNRS, Université de Toulouse Jean Jaurès, Toulouse 31058, France
Teyssandier, Nicolas ; Travaux et Recherches Archéologiques sur les Cultures, les Espaces et les Sociétés, UMR 5608 TRACES, CNRS, Université de Toulouse Jean Jaurès, Toulouse 31058, France
Thibeault, Adrien ; De la Préhistoire à l'Actuel:Culture, Environnement et Anthropologie, UMR 5199 PACEA, CNRS, Université de Bordeaux, Ministère de la Culture, Pessac 33600, France
Todisco, Dominique ; Identité et différenciation de l'espace, de l'environnement et des sociétés, UMR 6266 IDEES, CNRS, Université de Rouen-Normandie, Mont Saint-Aignan 76821, France
Tombret, Olivier ; Histoire Naturelle des Humanités Préhistoriques, UMR 7194 HNHP, Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle-CNRS-Université Perpignan Via Domitia, Paris 75013, France
Rougier, Hélène ; Department of Anthropology, California State University Northridge, Northridge, CA 91330-8244
Crevecoeur, Isabelle ; De la Préhistoire à l'Actuel:Culture, Environnement et Anthropologie, UMR 5199 PACEA, CNRS, Université de Bordeaux, Ministère de la Culture, Pessac 33600, France
Région Nouvelle-Aquitaine ANR - French National Research Agency
Funding text :
The Collective Research Project at La Roche-\u00E0-Pierrot is funded by the Direction R\u00E9gionale des Affaires Culturelles (DRAC) of the R\u00E9gion Nouvelle-Aquitaine and by the D\u00E9partement de Charente-Maritime (CG 17), France. Fieldwork also benefited from financial support of the research project of the R\u00E9gion Nouvelle-Aquitaine: Isotopes du calcium et anthropobiologie au Pal\u00E9olithique moyen (#2019-1R40208) and from logistical and material support from Arch\u00E9osph\u00E8re. Dating analyses were supported by the NeHos Project of the French National Research Agency (ANR-22-CE27-0016), and the Threads project \u00AB D\u00E9m\u00EAler les fils du changement culturel au cours du pal\u00E9olithique sup\u00E9rieur en Europe: l\u2019\u00E9tude des objets de parure \u00BB (#AAPR2024-2023-31912410). We are grateful to the Service R\u00E9gional d\u2019Arch\u00E9ologie (SRA) Nouvelle-Aquitaine, the Conseil d\u00E9partemental de la Charente-Maritime, and more specifically its Service d\u2019Arch\u00E9ologie (SDA), the PACEA laboratory (UMR 5199), the University of Bordeaux and Pal\u00E9osite (ALFRAN), for logistical support. This research equally benefited from the scientific framework of the University of Bordeaux\u2019s IdEx \u201CInvestments for the Future\u201D program/GPR \u201CHuman Past.\u201D We would like to thank the three anonymous reviewers and the PNAS editor for their constructive comments that helped improve the presentation of our research. Finally, we would like to thank all the volunteer excavators without whom this research would not have been possible.ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. The Collective Research Project at La Roche-\u00E0-Pierrot is funded by the Direction R\u00E9gionale des Affaires Culturelles (DRAC) of the R\u00E9gion Nouvelle-Aquitaine and by the D\u00E9partement de Charente-Maritime (CG 17), France. Fieldwork also benefited from financial support of the research project of the R\u00E9gion Nouvelle-Aquitaine: Isotopes du calcium et anthropobiologie au Pal\u00E9olithique moyen (#2019-1R40208) and from logistical and material support from Arch\u00E9osph\u00E8re. Dating analyses were supported by the NeHos Project of the French National Research Agency (ANR-22-CE27-0016), and the Threads project \u00AB D\u00E9m\u00EAler les fils du changement culturel au cours du pal\u00E9olithique sup\u00E9rieur en Europe: l\u2019\u00E9tude des objets de parure \u00BB (#AAPR2024-2023-31912410). We are grateful to the Service R\u00E9gional d\u2019Arch\u00E9ologie (SRA) Nouvelle-Aquitaine, the Conseil d\u00E9partemental de la Charente-Maritime, and more specifically its Service d\u2019Arch\u00E9ologie (SDA), the PACEA laboratory (UMR 5199), the University of Bordeaux and Pal\u00E9osite (ALFRAN), for logistical support. This research equally benefited from the scientific framework of the University of Bordeaux\u2019s IdEx \u201CInvestments for the Future\u201D program/GPR \u201CHuman Past.\u201D We would like to thank the three
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