Abstract
The demise of Neanderthals and their interaction with dispersing anatomically modern human populations remain some of the most contentious issues in palaeoanthropology. The Châtelperronian, now generally recognized as the first genuine Upper Palaeolithic industry in Western Europe and commonly attributed to the Neanderthals, plays a pivotal role in these debates. The Neanderthal authorship of this techno-complex is based on reported associations of Neanderthal skeletal material with Châtelperronian assemblages at only two sites, La Roche-à-Pierrot (Saint-Césaire) and the Grotte du Renne (Arcy-sur-Cure). The reliability of such an association has, however, been the subject of heated controversy. Here we present a detailed taphonomic, spatial and typo-technological reassessment of the level (EJOP sup) containing the Neanderthal skeletal material at Saint-Césaire. Our assessment of a new larger sample of lithic artifacts, combined with a systematic refitting program and spatial projections of diagnostic artifacts, produced no reliable evidence for a Neanderthal-Châtelperronian association at the site. These results significantly impact current models concerning the Middle-to-Upper Palaeolithic transition in Western Europe and force a critical reappraisal of who exactly were the makers of the Châtelperronian.
Highlights
La Roche-à-Pierrot, Saint-Césaire[43,44,45]
This reanalysis resulted in the reaffirmation of Lévêque’s original attribution of EJOP sup to the Châtelperronian and at the same time noted that: (1) Mousterian and Châtelperronian artefacts do not significantly differ in terms of surface alterations, (2) EJOP inf is more appropriately defined as Mousterian, (3) EJOP sup still portrays a considerable Mousterian ‘aspect’, and (4) that overall it remains difficult to discern whether the particular composition of the Châtelperronian of Saint-Césaire is cultural or the product of post-depositional mixing
Of the piece-plotted material attributed during excavations to EJOP sup (n = 696), 173 are diagnostic, and evince an assemblage composed primarily of Middle Palaeolithic cultural material (88.4% of the diagnostic pieces, n = 153) accompanied by a much smaller Châtelperronian component (11.6%, n = 20)
Summary
La Roche-à-Pierrot, Saint-Césaire[43,44,45]. important reservations persist concerning the reliability of the Neanderthal-Châtelperronian association at both sites[46,47,48,49,50]. With the help of Lévêque and reference to information in the field notebooks (e.g., artefact altitudes, sedimentological observations), an unspecified amount of material from the undifferentiated EJOP level was reassigned to EJOP inf or sup[53,54] This reanalysis resulted in the reaffirmation of Lévêque’s original attribution of EJOP sup to the Châtelperronian and at the same time noted that: (1) Mousterian and Châtelperronian artefacts do not significantly differ in terms of surface alterations, (2) EJOP inf is more appropriately defined as Mousterian, (3) EJOP sup still portrays a considerable Mousterian ‘aspect’, and (4) that overall it remains difficult to discern whether the particular composition of the Châtelperronian of Saint-Césaire is cultural or the product of post-depositional mixing
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