Biface industries in southern France during the middle Pleistocene: a mosaic of technical behaviours
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Bifaces, emblematic Lower Palaeolithic tools, have been present in Eurasia for at least 1.7 Ma. These bifacially shaped tools are found over a vast spatio-temporal range and variable environmental contexts. Their manufacture is also associated with different hominin species. These factors raise questions about the origins of these tools: do they stem from the same technical lineage, or are they the result of reinventions that remain to be identified and traced? Bifaces appeared relatively late in the west of Europe (0.78 Ma) and persist until 0.12 Ma. Given the marked variability of chronostratigraphic contexts and archaeological assemblages containing bifaces, the scientific community has called into question the techno-cultural unity of bifacial shaping. Against this backdrop, we propose to examine techno-cultural data from archaeological sites in southern France. This area is a potential crossroads of influences. The sites are correlated with various geographical and climatic contexts that may have influenced the technical expression of hominins. We present an overview of the chaînes opératoires involved in bifacial shaping which we compare with those of heavy-duty and lightweight tools in order to discuss the consistency of technical choices. Our results highlight the variability of techno-economical behaviours within the ‘bifacial industries’ of southern France.
Source: Historical Biology
Language: English
Subfield: Anthropology
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W4414445126