Hide working with stone tools in the Early Mesolithic in Western Europe : Historical processesand geographical diversity

International audienceUse-wear traces attributed to hide working are probably among the best known in traceology, by their characteristics and their frequency in prehistoric lithic assemblages. In the European Mesolithic, hide working tools are almost always recognised, but in lower proportions compared to the Upper Paleolithic. In general, this tendency limits the possibility of going beyond the simple observation of their presence : placing the results in a technical-economic perspective remains complicated.Over the last 15 years, our studies have allowed us to identify several hundred lithic tools, retouched or not, used to work hide in Northern France and Belgium. This communication is an opportunity to provide a first synthesis focused on the question of Mesolithic hide-working in Western Europe. Starting with a general overview, we will discuss the place of this activity in the economic systems of this period and the differences compared with the Upper Paleolithic, in a historical perspective. Then, we will detail a few examples that illustrate the diversity of wear traces and lithic tools involved. The continuation of this research opens the possibility, in the future, of identifying various technical traditions in time and space and thus better grasp the complexity of social and cultural dynamics during the Mesolithic