Le Solutréen ancien en vallée du Rhône : la production des pointes à face plane du niveau 2 des fouilles M. Martin à la baume d’Oullins (Gard – Ardèche, France)

The Last Glacial Maximum ranges between 21 000 BP and 19 000 BP and saw the emergence and development of the Solutrean. The Solutrean’s geographic boundaries encompass the Paris basin to the north, Aquitaine, the Pyrenees, Portugal and Spain to the south ; it is limited to the east by the right bank of the Rhone river. While numerous Early Solutrean sites are known from the Rhone Valley, no recent studies have been carried out since the seminal work of P. E. L Smith in 1966 and J. Combier in 1967 and, more recently, the typological analysis of A. Barbiero in 2002 on the unifacial points and shouldered points from the old excavation at Baume d''Oullins (Barbiero, 2002). Whereas the transition between the Gravettian and Early Solutrean is well understood, including the production of blanks for unifacial points in the Paris basin, the bifacial shaping and production of laurel leaf points and of blanks for shouldered points, what can be said of the production of unifacial points in the Rhone Valley, where the river seems to function as a bona fide cultural frontier ? The important site of the cave of Baume d'Oullins, discovered at the end of the 19th century, is located in the gorges of the Ardeche river at the intersection between the two communes of Le Garn (Gard département) and Labastide-de-Virac (Ardèche). Several seasons of excavation have brought to light a long stratigraphic sequence, spreading from the Mousterian to the Neolithic (Combier, 1967 ; Bazile & Bazile-Robert, 1979). This article proposes a techno-economic study of the lithic assemblage from M. Martin’s excavations between 1936 and 1939 at Baume d''Oullins attributed to the Early Solutrean. Maurice Martin uncovered two Solutrean layers, one with numerous unifacial points, considered as identifying the Early Solutrean, overlain by another layer with many unifacial points and shouldered points, typical of the Late Solutrean (horizons containing laurel leafs, typical of the Middle Solutrean, are however absent from the sequences found in south-eastern France). Although this material comes from old excavations, lacking modern methodological control, it nonetheless demonstrates substantial coherence. This article begins with an economic analysis, focusing on the circulation of raw materials. The siliceous raw material most often used is a Barremo-Bedoulian flint (Lower Cretaceous) from Meysse-Rochemaure (Ardèche) about 30 km north of the site. Indeed, 70% of the identified pieces are manufactured from this flint while 10% are made out of local flints such as Ludian (Upper Eocene) from Laval-Saint-Roman (Gard) or Ludian from Orgnac (Ardèche). Interestingly, the most noteworthy aspect of this assemblage is the presence of exotic flints such as a Lower Turonian flint (Upper Cretaceous) from the Cher region, approximately 450 km north of Baume d''Oullins and a Bedoulian flint (Lower Cretaceous) from Mont Ventoux on the left bank of the Rhône Valley, approximately 65 km east of the site. In both cases, the presence of these types of flint in this assemblage is very interesting for the palaeoclimatic context and with regard to questions about group mobility and the crossing of the Rhône River. The Rhône Valley is indeed a strategic point between the cultural spheres of the Solutrean on the right bank and the Epigravettian on the left bank. Since raw materials circulated, we may conceive that ideas also spread between these two cultures that seemingly belonged to two distinct worlds. The typological analysis, which focuses mainly on unifacial points, highlights the homogeneity of this particular artefact type in this assemblage. Several recurrent features include retouching systematically located on the left edge of the piece and systematic thinning of the base. The only genuine variability is found at the point, which may be canted to the right or axial. Additionally, this study addresses the question of the use of these pieces, which currently remains unanswered. No microwear analysis has been done on unifacial points, but some evidence does suggest use of the right edge, which is most often left unretouched. Perhaps the unifacial point should no longer be considered solely as a weapon but also as a tool. Among the retouched pieces, we identified what seem to be Vale Comprido points (Zilhao & Aubry, 1995 ; Renard 2010). It is difficult to identify these artefacts accurately, given that basal retouching may be confused with striking platform preparation. The technological approach brings into evidence a unique Upper Palaeolithic knapping concept, which has already been observed in lithic assemblages from the Paris basin (Renard, 2002 and 2010). The flaking surface is located on the largest face of the core, delimited by lateral crests, which represents an original concept for the Upper Palaeolithic, where the aim was to produce large blanks to be transformed into unifacial points. The type of blank used in the crafting of unifacial points was not a discriminating factor. We also distinguished some strictly unipolar and convergent products, which differ significantly from the rest of the assemblage, as they appear to belong to a different knapping concept, finer than the main blade production. In this series, the only retouched pieces manufactured on unipolar and convergent blanks are Vale Comprido points. In spite of the fact that the latter are shorter and thicker than the unretouched pointed products, we may presume that they called on the same production logic, which is very different from that of blade production. Did this correspond to an independent production of points, separate from the main blade production, destined to be transformed into Vale Comprido points ? In conclusion, the lithic assemblage from Level 2 of M. Martin’s excavation at Baume d''Oullins contributes to our understanding and definition of the Early Solutrean in the South-East of France, despite the age of the excavations. The presence of siliceous raw materials from the left bank of the Rhone led us to consider a contemporaneous assemblage from the same bank, and to compare it with the Solutrean, in order to establish the role played by the Rhone river as a potential barrier or passageway for materials and ideas.S’il est une région en France où le Solutréen ancien reste méconnu, malgré le nombre important de gisements archéologiques s’y rapportant, c’est la moyenne vallée du Rhône. Plus spécifiquement, aucune approche technologique moderne n’avait été entreprise sur les séries lithiques attribuées à la phase ancienne du Solutréen dans le bassin Rhodanien, depuis les thèses de P. E. L. Smith en 1966 et J. Combier en 1967. Toutefois, plus récemment, un travail de maîtrise effectué en 2002 par A. Barbiero, a porté sur l’analyse typologique des pointes à face plane et pointes à cran provenant des anciennes fouilles à Oullins (Gard-Ardèche, France), gisement situé en plein coeur des gorges de l’Ardèche et occupé depuis le Moustérien jusqu’à l’Azilien. Nous proposons ainsi dans cet article, une révision typologique de l’objet emblématique de cette phase ancienne, à savoir la pointe à face plane, couplée à une approche techno-économique, à partir de l’une des collections lithiques issue de ces anciennes fouilles à la baume d’Oullins, la collection Maurice Martin, et dont l’attribution chrono-culturelle se rapporte au Solutréen ancien. Bien que mise au jour à la fin des années 1930 et avec des méthodes de fouilles aujourd’hui dépassées, cette collection, caractérisée par la présence dans le niveau étudié, le niveau 2, d’un très grand nombre de pointes à face plane, et sous-jacent selon l’auteur, à un niveau à pointes à cran, présente une bonne cohérence sur le plan technique. L’analyse des matières premières, par laquelle commence cet article, a révélé des choix économiques originaux pour le contexte paléoclimatique dans lequel se place l’horizon archéologique étudié, à savoir le Dernier Maximum Glaciaire, avec notamment l’emploi de silex de provenance lointaine au détriment des matières premières siliceuses plus locales, attestant notamment des déplacements jusque dans le Cher, ainsi qu’un franchissement du Rhône. Il faut rappeler qu’à ce moment précis du Paléolithique supérieur, la rive gauche du Rhône est occupée par des groupes appartenant à une autre sphère culturelle, l’Épigravettien ancien. L’étude typologique, réalisée principalement autour de la pointe à face plane, a permis de mettre en avant une réelle homogénéité de cet objet au sein de cet ensemble, marquée notamment par une latéralisation de la retouche quasi exclusivement à gauche avec toutefois pour seule différence majeure la symétrie de l’objet, tantôt axiale, tantôt déjetée vers la droite. Elle a d’autre part, permis d’aborder les questionnements quant à son usage, qui, pour l’heure, restent entièrement ouverts. L’étude technologique a permis de confirmer la présence d’un débitage singulier pour le Paléolithique supérieur, à savoir l’exploitation de la face la plus large du nucléus grâce à la mise en place de crêtes latérales, en vue d’obtenir des supports de pointes à face plane. Ces observations rejoignent ainsi celles déjà faites dans le Bassin parisien et sur d’autres collections du Sud-Ouest de la France.Guégan Sophie. Le Solutréen ancien en vallée du Rhône : la production des pointes à face plane du niveau 2 des fouilles M. Martin à la baume d’Oullins (Gard – Ardèche, France). In: Bulletin de la Société préhistorique française, tome 110, n°4, 2013. pp. 623-644