The Emergence and Development of Aurignacian osseous Technologies in Western Europe

International audienceThe widespread working of osseous materials (cervid antler, ivory and bone) in Europe is one of the major innovations that mark the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic. Central to the definition of the Aurignacian, osseous technology has provided a strong argument in favor of the migrationist model of human dispersal, whereby the Aurignacian culture spread rapidly and uniformly across Europe with populations of Modern Humans, leading to the demise of Neanderthal populations and their industries. In recent years, however, new data have undermined this model.The present article provides a review of existing data related to the exploitation of osseous materials during the Aurignacian in Western Europe. The widespread working of osseous materials displays a gradual development from the Protoaurignacian into the Early Aurignacian, over the course of which osseous industries became systematic and permanently integrated into the techno-economic systems of Aurignacian groups. The management of osseous raw materials in the Early Aurignacian was highly structured, each material having a specific place in a well-defined functional or symbolic domain: antler for hunting equipment, bone for domestic tasks and ivory for ornaments. This evolution in raw-material processing also extends to the lithic domain and confirms that a significant modification occurred in the economic and social organization of groups. Current data support the hypothesis of an early arrival in Western Europe of pioneering groups in the Protoaurignacian and of the in-situ evolution of Protoaurignacian technologies that led to the emergence of the Early Aurignacian