Between Petrographic Diversity and Techno-Economic Behaviors During the Middle Paleolithic: Some Observations on Lithic Raw Material Management at the Sites of Achenheim “Sol 74” and Mutzig “Rain” (Alsace, France)

Abstract

The identification of lithic raw material sources used to produce tools and the characterization of their management are essential when studying a prehistoric population. For the Middle Paleolithic, it may be one of the crucial keys to understanding the technological and typological variability observed within the lithic assemblages, particularly in the Rhine Valley where the scarcity of flint and geological complexity go hand in hand with the exploitation of a wide diversity of the raw materials by Neanderthal groups. In this paper we propose an analysis of raw material management on the only two Middle Paleolithic sites in the French part of the Rhine Valley to have been actually excavated and well-documented and which have yielded sufficient quantities of lithic material: Achenheim “Sol 74,” an open-air find horizon dating to the Saalian glaciation, and Mutzig “Rain,” a multi-layer rockshelter settlement from the beginning of the Weichselian glaciation. These two sites occupy quite different environments and belong to different chronological periods but they probably had access to the same raw material sources. The analyses carried out combine petrography, observation of the natural surfaces on the lithic artifacts and the reconstruction of reduction sequences and chaînes opératoires. For both sites, this approach has allowed us to highlight the exploitation of raw materials which were primarily sourced locally. It has also revealed other techno-economic behaviors such as the circulation of certain kinds of products, especially retouched tools made from good quality flint. Our observations allow us to propose interpretations regarding the functioning of Neanderthal groups and the functions of sites within the territory that they exploited.