UC Berkeley UC Berkeley Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title A Late Magdalenian Landscape: Spatial and Technological Production at Les Eglises Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9rb1c8cs Author Griffin, Andrew Marc Publication Date 2015 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California A Late Magdalenian Landscape: Spatial and Technological Production at Les Eglises By Andrew Marc Griffin A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Professor Margaret W. Conkey, Chair Professor Kent G. Lightfoot Professor Paul E. Groth Summer 2015 A Late Magdalenian Landscape: Spatial and Technological Production at Les Eglises Copyright © 2015 By Andrew Marc Griffin Abstract A Late Magdalenian Landscape: Spatial and Technological Production at Les Eglises By Andrew Marc Griffin Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology University of California, Berkeley Professor Margaret W. Conkey, Chair This study examines the spatial and technological practices of hunter-gatherers in the Late Magdalenian period at the central Pyrenean cave site of Les Eglises (c. 11,800 BP). The site is a palimpsest of four main stratigraphic levels for this period of occupation and is thought to represent a relatively short time span for a Paleolithic site (years or possibly decades). Because excavation was carried out in the 1960s and 1970s and spatial coordinates were noted for many of the finds, the site provides an opportunity for fine-grained spatial analysis. It also has the potential to inform with regard to the technological practices associated with stone tool production and whether those may have changed over a probable narrow period of time. In order to explore the technological side, an analysis of the majority of stone tools was carried out and is presented here. The spatial data are analyzed using a Geographic Information System (GIS) and a method used to identify clustering called Kernel Density Estimation. In theoretical terms, my concern here is to link the production of technology and space with the practices that produced them, in part by drawing on the spatial theory of Henri Lefebvre, the practice theory of Pierre Bourdieu, as well as the work of André Leroi-Gourhan and of Actor-Network Theory. Les Eglises is typically considered to be a specialized ibex hunting camp, but much less attention has been paid to the fact that the Magdalenians hunted other species – primarily birds and fish – and what that might imply about the occupants of the site and the specific composition (age/gender of individuals) of the group or groups who visited it. Additionally, the areal extent of the occupation changed between the stratigraphic levels and at times those changes were relatively dramatic. In service of the goal of providing a more nuanced account of the site, special attention is paid to the small scale practices of manufacturing stone tools, their spatial clustering, and their relation to the location of faunal remains, as well as the location of “formal tools” made of both stone and bone. Based on multiple lines of evidence, it is argued that the site is in fact more complex than generally assumed, and that at least in the most spatially extensive stratigraphic level, was an aggregation site, even if a smaller example of such a site. On a higher level, for mobile hunter-gatherers like the Magdalenians at Les Eglises, every site implicates the wider landscape in that it aggregates materials that include both humans and non-humans (e.g. raw materials for stone tools, gathered plants, and hunted animals) from localities near and far, drawing disparate elements into close association and thus producing new spaces. 1 Table of Contents List of Figures iii List of Tables v Acknowledgements vi Chapter 1: Introduction 1 Les Eglises: Background 2 Hunter-Gatherer Mobilities 5 Magdalenian Mobilities 6 All Sites are Aggregation Sites 7 Structure of the Dissertation 7 A note about working with archived archaeological materials 8 Chapter 2: The Magdalenian of Europe 9 Introduction 9 Spain and Portugal 10 The Magdalenian of Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, and Poland 12 The Magdalenian of France 16 Les Eglises 22 Recent Studies 22 Chapter 3: Theorizing Space, Technology, and Practice 24 The Space/Technology/Practice nexus 24 Space 24 Technology 27 Practice 30 Chapter 4: Spatial Analysis and Landscape Archaeology 33 Landscape Approaches in Archaeology 38 An Introduction to Concepts: Landscape, Space, and Place 39 A History of the Landscape Concept in the United States 42 The Emergence and Ensuing Popularity of Landscape in Archaeology: Panacea 44 or Plague? Phenomenological Approaches 46 Sacred, Ritual, Conceptual, and Ideational Landscapes 48 Landscapes of Power 49 Relating Landscape Approaches to Hunter-Gatherer Archaeology 50 Landscape Orientations 53 Chapter 5: Lithic Technology at Les Eglises 55 Lithic Analysis of Les Eglises: Methodology 57 Level 9 61 Non-Tools 61 Tools 65 Level 8 70 i Level 6 73 Level 4 77 Comparing Non-Tools at Les Eglises 79 The Tools of Les Eglises 81 Fitting it Together 83 Chapter 6: Spatial Associations at Les Eglises 85 Level 9 89 Level 8 94 Level 6 99 Level 4 106 Lithic Refits at Les Eglises 108 Discussion 109 Chapter 7: Bringing Technology and Space Together 112 Chapter 8: Conclusion 125 Bibliography 129 ii List of Figures Note: All images are created by the author unless otherwise noted Figure 1.1 Western Europe with location of Les Eglises 3 Figure 1.2 Map of Les Eglises 4 Figure 4.1 Representation of a Kernel Density Estimate 38 Figure 5.1 Views of the largest core from Les Eglises 62 Figure 5.2 Level 9 – Non-tool lithics 64 Figure 5.3 Level 9 – Blades and Bladelets 64 Figure 5.4 Level 9 – Formal tools 65 Figure 5.5 Level 9 – Burins 66 Figure 5.6 Level 9 – Backed Bladelets 67 Figure 5.7 Level 9 – Scrapers 68 Figure 5.8 Level 9 – Microflaked Lithics 69 Figure 5.9 Level 9 – Example of a pièce esquillée 70 Figure 5.10 Level 8 – Non-Tools 72 Figure 5.11 Level 8 – Tools 72 Figure 5.12 Level 6 – Non-Tools 74 Figure 5.13 Level 6 – Tools 74 Figure 5.14 Level 6 – Scrapers 75 Figure 5.15 Level 6 – Burins, Perçoir, and Backed Bladelets 76 Figure 5.16 Level 4 – Lithics 77 Figure 5.17 Level 4 – Non-Tools 79 Figure 5.18 Level 4 – Tools 79 Figure 6.1 Map of Les Eglises 88 Figure 6.2 All mapped materials recovered from Level 9 89 Figure 6.3 Kernel density estimates of mapped bones in Level 9 90 Figure 6.4 Kernel density estimates of mapped lithic materials in Level 9 91 Figure 6.5 Level 9 – Lithic artifacts (both mapped and unmapped) 92 Figure 6.6 Lithics and bone tools from Level 9 93 Figure 6.7 Sagaie from Level 9 93 Figure 6.8 Level 9, Unit D3 94 Figure 6.9 Level 8 Bi-point hook or sagaie 95 Figure 6.10 All artifacts and faunal material from Level 8 95 Figure 6.11 Kernel density estimates of mapped bones in Level 8 96 Figure 6.12 Kernel density estimates of mapped lithic materials in Level 8 97 Figure 6.13 Lithic artifacts and bone tools in Level 8 98 Figure 6.14 Level 8 – Lithic artifacts (both mapped and unmapped) 99 Figure 6.15 All mapped artifacts and bones recovered from Level 6 100 Figure 6.16 Map of Level 6 100 Figure 6.17 Kernel density estimates of mapped bones in Level 6 101 Figure 6.18 Kernel density estimates of mapped lithic materials in Level 6 102 iii Figure 6.19 Level 6 – Lithic artifacts (both mapped and unmapped) 103 Figure 6.20 Mapped lithics and bone tools in Level 6 104 Figure 6.21 Level 6 – bones and bone tools 106 Figure 6.22 Close-up view of Level 4 Kernel Density Estimate 107 Figure 6.23 All mapped artifacts for Level 4 108 Figure 6.24 Lithic refitting at Les Eglises 109 Figure 7.1 Level 9 – Non-tool lithic blanks 112 Figure 7.2 Level 9 – Formal stone tools, microflaked lithics, and bone tools 113 Figure 7.3 Level 8 – Non-tool lithic blanks 114 Figure 7.4 Level 8 – Formal stone tools, microflaked lithics, and bone tools 115 Figure 7.5 Level 6 – Non-tool lithic blanks 116 Figure 7.6 Level 6 – Formal stone tools, microflaked lithics, and bone tools 117 iv List of Tables Table 5.1 Level 9 core data 61 Table 5.2 Level 9 – complete blades 63 Table 5.3 Level 9 – complete bladelets 63 Table 5.4 Level 9 – complete flakes 63 Table 5.5 Level 8 – complete blanks 71 Table 5.6 Level 6 – complete blanks 73 Table 5.7 Level 4 – blade dimensions 77 Table 5.8 Level 4 – whole bladelet dimensions 78 Table 5.9 Level 4 – whole flake dimensions 78 Table 5.10 Non-tools – All levels 80 Table 5.11 All levels – Formal tools and microflaked lithics 82 Table 6.1 Dimensions of provenienced versus non-provenienced lithic artifacts 87 v Acknowledgements There have been many who have been helpful during the course of this project, some of whom have played absolutely essential roles, and without whom – and this is no exaggeration - there would have been no project. This goes doubly or triply for Jean Clottes, who was incredibly generous with both his time and his archived materials for Les Eglises. He gave me space in his home to spread out the maps that he had originally drawn for his publications on the site.