Gravettians at Brassempouy (Landes, France), 30,000 BP: a semi-sedentary territorial organization?

ABSTRACT

Nomadism is traditionally considered the unique lifestyle of the European Upper Palaeolithic before the appearance of the settled way of life characterizing the Neolithic. A semi-sedentary intermediate organization based on the economy of the mammoth was nevertheless proposed for the Gravettian and Epigravettian of Central and Eastern Europe. Paradoxically, though the Gravettian is considered to be the first European culture of modern humans, this working hypothesis has not been raised in Western Europe. Indeed, in the unity/diversity debate for the Gravettian phenomenon, the importance of territorial organization is underestimated, given that it is just as important as the lithic and osseous industries. Based on a study of the lithic industry, I explore the possibility that the Gravettian groups occupying Brassempouy (Landes, France) approximately 30,000 BP lived a semi-sedentary lifestyle.

KEYWORDS:

• France
• Brassempouy
• Upper Palaeolithic
• Gravettian
• semi-sedentary occupation
• female figurines
• lithic industries

Acknowledgements

My kind thanks go to Dominique Henry-Gambier, Laurent Klaric and François Bon for their comments and advice. I am also grateful to Magen O’Farrell for her translation.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Aurélien Simonet

Aurélien Simonet is a Palaeolithic archaeologist and Associated Researcher in the UMR 5608-TRACES laboratory (CNRS, Université Toulouse 2-Jean Jaurès). Born in 1982, he earned his PhD in 2009 at the University of Toulouse 2-Jean Jaurès with a dissertation concerning the Gravettians of the Pyrenees (France). He is a specialist in lithic industries from Gravettian sites of south-western Europe (30,000–20,000 BP), with particular emphasis on the function of sites with female figurines. His publications include Brassempouy (Landes, France) : la matrice gravettienne de l’Europe (Liège: ERAUL, 2012) and he is currently leading field research on Upper Palaeolithic sites in south-western France (Brassempouy, Isturitz, Tercis) and Mongolia (Tsatsyn Ereg).