The Salpetrian culture toward the end of the Solutrean around 23 ka cal BP in the Rhône Valley (France)

Abstract

During the last ice age, between 25.5 and 23.5 ka cal. BP approximatively, the Solutrean culture was present in Western Europe, located on a vast area, which corresponds to the present territories of France and the Iberian Peninsula. According to French stratigraphic references, the Solutrean culture was replaced by the Badegoulian culture without technological transition between 23.5 and 23 ka cal. BP. But at the same time, a cultural group deriving from the Upper Solutrean appeared in the Rhône Valley. It is known as the Salpetrian culture. The lithic tool kit of this post-Solutrean group demonstrates both technological rupture and continuity in comparison with the Upper Solutrean: persistence of the main tool, the Mediterranean shouldered point with abrupt retouch, but loss of flat and invasive retouch. This article presents the technological and cultural specificities of the Salpetrian group and the knapping objectives in particular, which are clearly defined by the technological analysis of the lithic industry. It is also a discussion of the chronological place of the Salpetrian and the question of its cultural relationship with other regional Paleolithic groups.