FROM THE WORKSHOP TO MARGIN OF DIFFUSION: EXAMPLE OF LONG BLADE IN NON-HEATED BEDOULIAN FLINT
Channel: European Association of Archaeologists
Date: 2020-11-12

During the Middle Neolithic in southern France during the 5th millennium cal. BC (Chassey culture) and the 4th millennium cal. BC, long blades and bladelets made of Bedoulian flint circulated. This diffusion is made over a wide area from the south eastern of France and beyond the Chassey culture sphere (Swiss, Northern Italy and Spain). There is agreement that these blades and bladelets were produced by highly skilled knappers. Production and diffusion of heat treated Bedoulian flint bladelet and nucleus component is well known and characterized, with production site and consumption site. While the production of larger non-heated blades in bedoulian flint still remains relatively poorly understood. Recently, the study of the lithic assemblages from a series of Chassey settlements and workshops in the south of France has provided key data about the local organisation of non-heated long blades production and defined a ‘community of practice’ organized around few workshop. These results make possible further studies aiming at characterizing the margins production and diffusion processes, from production areas in south eastern France to the distant end of the exchange networks in Catalonia region (in the north eastern of Spain). It is this problematic that we will discuss in this communication.


Author(s): Reggio, Adrien (LAMPEA (UMR7269); Aix-Marseille Université) - Gibaja, Juan-Francisco - Terradas, Xavier (IMF-CSIC Barcelone) - Palomo, Antoni (Museu Nacional de Arqueologia) - Borell, Ferran (IMF-CSIC Barcelone) - Bailly, Maxence (LAMPEA - UMR7269;
Aix-Marseille Université)