Le débitage laminaire en silex tertiaire bartonien dans la culture Blicquy/Villeneuve-Saint-Germain, Néolithique ancien : organisation de la production et réseaux de circulation

Abstract

The Blicquy/ Villeneuve-Saint-Germain (BQ/ VSG) culture combines the former Blicquy (Belgium) and Villeneuve-Saint-Germain (north France) groups. Chronologically, the BQ/ VSG follows the Linearbandkeramik and is dated to between 4950 and 4650 BC. The circulation of Bartonian Tertiary flint within this culture is an established fact. However, it is now possible to examine patterns in more detail, as the number of sites has considerably increased since the first observations were made (Bostyn, 1994). A review of published finds shows that the majority of settlements using Bartonian flint are located within the Tertiary basin. Here, two groups of settlements can be distinguished : producer sites and partial producer sites. On producer sites the whole chaîne opératoire of blade debitage for Bartonian flint takes place in the settlement. On partial producer sites the beginning of the chaîne operatoire is missing, as the flint slabs arrive at the settlements in preformed state. Two partial producer sites are located outside the Tertiary basin. The other sites located outside the Tertiary basin have no evidence for debitage and just receive blades (receiver sites). A technological study of flint assemblages from Vasseny (Aisne) and Tinqueux (Marne) indicates the coexistence of two types of Bartonian flint blade : short blades and large blades. The distinction is shown by a gap in length distribution and this gap could represent exported blades. In order to pursue the question further, additional data were examined from published sites. Four hypotheses can be proposed to explain the coexistence of these two types of blade. First : the short blades could have been produced during terminal of use of large cores, when the core volume had become considerably smaller. Second : after the production of large blades, cores could have been partially or totally reshaped for debitage of short blades. There would thus be two steps in the chaîne opératoire and reshaping could explain the gap observed in the distribution. Third : the short blades could have been produced in alternation with large blades. Fourth : the two types of blades could represent two separate productions. Analysis of the published data suggests that the fourth hypothesis is the most likely. Thus, large cores/ short cores, large crested blades/ short crested blades and large undercrested blades/ short under-crested blades are found together. This observation invalidates the first hypothesis. It could fit the second hypothesis, if the large cores were totally reshaped before the production of short blades. Yet the absence of flakes from this reshaping stage rules this out. Lastly, if the third hypothesis were true, one would expect to observe on the large blades removal negatives compatible with short blades. There are no negatives of this kind. The various lines of evidence thus seem to favour the fourth hypothesis. Furthermore, the short blades are mostly 6 to 10 cm long, while the large ones are 14 to 19 cm in length. Blades in circulation do not fill in the gap between the two types of blade and in fact have similar dimensions to the large blades. One can also add that the large blades were exclusively made in a few producer sites, whereas the short blades correspond to an “ ordinary” production identified on all sites and in all the raw materials exploited for blade debitage. The flints circulating appear mainly to be large blades. Therefore, the production of short blades must be understood as domestic debitage, as opposed to the production of the large blades which are involved in circulation networks. The fact that the large blades are exclusively made on a few producer sites would seem to suggest that these sites controlled the best raw material deposits. The circulation networks developed throughout the area of the BQ/ VSG culture, excepting its south-western margins. Tertiary Bartonian flint is clearly identified on BQ (Belgian) sites located almost 200 km from the outcrops. A specific pattern of distribution towards these sites can be identified (Bostyn, 2008). Thus the BQ sites received preformed cores, as opposed to the VSG sites located far from the outcrops, which just received blades. It may be that travelling flint-knappers actually visited the BQ sites. Furthermore, the presence in Hainaut of debitage of Ghlin flint with a level of expertise comparable to production of the large Bartonian blades (Cahen and Van Berg, 1979 ; Bostyn, 2008) implies that the circulation network was not based on economic necessity. So more work is required to clarify the nature of contacts between the BQ and VSG spheres.