Le mobilier magdalénien en matières dures d’origine animale du site de Wilczyce 10 (district de Sandomierz, Pologne)

Abstract

The Wilczyce site in southern Poland, on the Sandomierz plateau overlooking the Opatowka river valley, was discovered during a field survey conducted in 1994 as part of the Archaeological Map of Poland project. The archaeological material discovered justified a survey to determine the zone of the planned excavation. Systematic work carried out since 1998, first by Dr Fiedorczuk and after his death by Prof. Schild, has yielded a quantity of lithic and bone artefacts, art objects, and the bones of consumed animals, distributed within an ice wedge. The Magdalenian bone inventory consists of 54 artefacts : 3 bone figurines, 12 points, 2 intermediate tools, 2 smoothers, 1 chisel, 1 scoop-smoother, 2 awls, 1 baton, 2 handles, 24 needles, 1 plaque and 3 unidentified objects. They were all made of reindeer antler, mammoth tusk and bone. Among the most exceptional finds are points with a concave-convex section, obtained by scraping the antler (elimination of the spongy tissue) until compact bone was reached. They are fairly rare in the bone inventory of the Magdalenian culture. The typological analysis of the bone and flint artefacts from Wilczyce allows the site to be attributed to a Magdalenian occupation during the Upper Palaeolithic. According to the 14 C results the Wilczyce site fits within the upper horizon of the Magdalenian, which seems to confirm the theory that Magdalenian sites in central and eastern Europe belong for the most part to the upper and terminal phases of this culture.