Continuité technologique et traditions techniques au Paléolithique inférieur : un modèle d’occupation territoriale dans le Sud de la France et dans le Nord-Est de la péninsule Ibérique

The scientific objectives of this article are to study the technological processes of the Middle and initial Upper Pleistocene in the south-east of France and the nord-east of the Iberian Peninsula, and their effect on the paleo-ecosocial behaviour of prehistoric societies. To do so, the article focuses on the lithotechnical records of archaeological sites located in different ecosystems (the Corbières Massif and the river basins of Roussillon in the Pyrénées Orientales, France, and the river Ter terrace system, the Selva depression, and the Banyoles lacustrine basin in Girona, Spain). These litho-technical records contain evidence of lithic industries in the sedimentary deposits of caves (G level of the Arago Cave in Tautavel, Pyrénées Orientales), rock-shelters (lower levels of Mollet I in Serinyà, Girona), ancient paleosoils (Puig d’Esclats, Casa Nova d’en Feliu and Can Burgés in the Selva, Girona), fluvial flood plains (Domeny Industrial, in Girona), eroded deposits on slopes (Costa Roja, Mas d’en Galí and Puig d’en Roca III, in Girona), and in ancient open-air sites of fossil fluvial terraces (Mas Ferréol, Plane d’en Bourgat and Butte du Four-Llabanère in the Pyrénées Orientales). The evolution of the late Oldowan and Acheulian technologies is characterized by the technological continuity and stasis of the lithic industry. The archaic Oldowan technological substrate is seen to have lasted into the Middle Pleistocene and is mainly characterized by the survival of assemblages of large artifacts such as choppers, chopping-tools and picks on cobbles, the continued use of orthogonal and non-organized methods in core exploitation systems, and the preponderance of denticulates and notches in the retouched tools. In the Selva sites and in the Arago Cave, new elements are introduced to this archaic substrate in the middle part of this period in the form of Acheulian morphotype artifacts such as cleavers and bifaces, which would evolve into the Levallois system in the late Middle Pleistocene. Thus, the continuum of these industries revolves around the technological interrelation established between lithic operative chains with bifaces and the Levallois system on the one hand, and between those operative chains which developed different tools and non-Levallois knapping strategies on the other. On the basis of this interpretation, the technological differences between the ecological systems are explained by different technological structures, or “ technical traditions”, characterized by the survival of archaic technological structures in an Acheulian context. This has implications for cultural, subsistence and territorial patterns of behaviour of these societies. Therefore, the proposal presented is also based on a territorial occupation model, of well established hominid communities in these biotopes and ecologic systems. The aforementioned technologies enabled the full exploitation of these ecosystems during the Lower Palaeolithic, which in turn must have enabled populations to subsist and evolve in different places. This would result in structural ecological behaviour, which in turn would mean that human communities that had evolved into a complex network of settled territories and regions would be separated not by geographical features acting as limiting spaces or frontiers, but by their different techno-cultures. Comparing the litho-technical analyses has also enabled us to document the differentiated adaptive patterns of mesopleistocene hominids, which are reflected in the industries’ technological variability between the geographical areas. We base this hypothesis on empirical data connected with three parameters : the areas whence the necessary raw materials for knapping were obtained (the strict patterns by which exclusively local rocks were used are particularly important), the technical production systems, or “ technical traditions”, characteristic of each regional unit during the Lower Palaeolithic, and the diachronic interval of these settlements, obtained both through relative chronology and through absolute dating techniques.Cet article présente l’étude des processus technologiques au cours du Pléistocène moyen et supérieur initial dans l’extrême Sud de la France et dans le Nord-Est de la péninsule Ibérique, ainsi que leurs implications sur le comportement paléo-écosocial des sociétés préhistoriques. Un schéma diachronique de continuité et de stase technologique des industries lithiques est proposé pour l’Odowayen final et l’Acheuléen. Le substrat technologique archaïque de l’Oldowayen aurait perduré jusqu’au Pléistocène moyen, avec l’introduction vers le milieu de cette période et dans certaines régions de nouveaux éléments tels que les bifaces, qui évolueraient vers un système Levallois à la fin du Pléistocène moyen. Les différences entre les industries et les systèmes écologiques s’expriment à travers l’existence de différentes «traditions techniques » caractérisées par la persistance de structures technologiques archaïques dans un contexte acheuléen. La thèse soutenue se fonde également sur un modèle d’occupation territoriale de communautés d’hominidés foncièrement enracinées dans les mêmes biotopes et systèmes écologiques. Leurs industries ont rendu possible l’exploitation optimale des écosystèmes durant le Paléolithique inférieur qui, à son tour, a permis aux populations de subsister et perdurer dans différents lieux. Ces communautés humaines ont évolué dans un réseau complexe de régions caractérisées par différentes technocultures.Garcia Garriga Joan. Continuité technologique et traditions techniques au Paléolithique inférieur : un modèle d’occupation territoriale dans le Sud de la France et dans le Nord-Est de la péninsule Ibérique. In: Bulletin de la Société préhistorique française, tome 108, n°4, 2011. pp. 609-643