The Late Solutrean open-air site of Landry (Aquitaine, France). A preliminary spatio-temporal analysis

Abstract

The Upper Palaeolithic open-air site of Landry, near Périgueux in the Aquitaine region of southwestern France, lies on an alluvial plain of the Isle River. The site contains two stratified Late Solutrean levels preserved over 300 m2 within aeolian silts and dated by optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) to between 27 and 16 ky. Only lithic material was present in both levels, with organic material having been destroyed by post-depositional processes. The upper level, associated with a thermoluminescence (TL) date of 21 ky, obtained from burnt flint, produced the remains of a hunting camp organised into different sectors containing cobble reserves, features in large alluvial blocks or heated cobbles, and specialised activity zones for the production and use of highly varied domestic as well as hunting tools. The lithic assemblage comprises more than a hundred laurel leaf points, bifacial tools and shouldered points that reflect either considerably different degrees of technical knowledge and know-how amongst the group(s) who occupied the site and or highly diversified needs. The importation and circulation of flint points in non-local raw materials likely suggests the occupation to have been connected with other Late Solutrean sites within an expansive subsistence and raw material provisioning territory. The remarkable preservation of habitation features, the varied composition of the toolkit and the exceptional presence of mobiliary art makes Landry a benchmark for better understanding the technology and socio-cultural organisation of Late Solutrean groups in the Aquitaine Basin.