A hilly relief and a globally rough climate characterize the
Auvergne, in the central part of France. During colder periods, local glaciers
covered the higher altitude zones that border the Loire and Allier valleys,
along which there are clusters of sites, both Middle Palaeolithic and Upper
Palaeolithic (Gravettian, Protomagdalenian, mostly Badegoulian and
Magdalenian). All of the Upper and some of the Middle Palaeolithic sites contain
northern flint from the Touraine and the Paris Basin, the former sites in large
quantities. In this respect, it is significant that flint is scarce and
generally of poor quality in the Auvergne.
The Auvergne is considered to have been a region of severe seasonal
contrasts throughout the Upper Palaeolithic, particularly inhospitable during
the winter months. The absence of any winter hunting in the sites further
suggests that human occupation was seasonal in the area. Working on this
assumption, it is contemplated that in the Upper Palaeolithic the procurement
of higher-quality northern flint was embedded in subsistence strategies and
occurred in the context of planned seasonal moves. These followed natural
routes connecting flint yielding regions and others known to be lacking
suitable raw materials.
Northward long-distance winter moves from the Auvergne (France),
following natural routes leading to areas yielding highquality flints. Both
Middle and Upper Palaeolithic sites contain Touraine and Paris Basin flints,
but the procurement of large quantities of such flints is only documented for
the Upper Palaeolithic. Figure composed by G. Monthel (UMR 7055 du CNRS).
Long-distance seasonal mobility (ranging between 160 and at
least 250km in the Upper Palaeolithic) is a pattern argued to obtain in ECE.
Explaining the Auvergne long-distance seasonal moves in terms of adaptive responses
to environmental constraints is supported by the enduring northern origin of
raw materials across the Middle/Upper Palaeolithic divide. However, the
quantities recorded for the Middle Palaeolithic are very small. A similar case
of continuity in transport and mobility strategies is documented only in ECE,
in Moravia, where northern trans-Carpathian flint systematically occurs in
Middle and Upper Palaeolithic sites, conveyed along natural routes (the
Moravian Gate). As in the Auvergne only poor quality flint is available in
Moravia, and it is also only during the Upper Palaeolithic that
trans-Carpathian transfers are associated with large quantities of raw
materials, rather than with a few end-products. Indirect Procurement Drawing on
ethnographic parallels concerning the exchange of highly valued items by
down-the-line trade over extreme distances, special attention has been paid to
the longest transfers (300 km) acknowledged in WE, WCE, and ECE. These always
involve very small quantities (generally a single item) of end-products, often
in remarkable materials, such as obsidian or white-spotted Świeciechów flint in
ECE, which account for half these transfers and may have been invested with
more than utilitarian properties.
Eastern Central
Europe
In ECE, such very long transfers are recorded throughout the
Upper Palaeolithic, beginning with the Szeletian and the Aurignacian, which
partly overlap in time. It is argued that three of the four 300 km Szeletian
transfers may result from a down-the-line mode of exchange.
Indirect procurement by down-the-line trade through social exchange in
the Szeletian and the Aurignacian of ECE (Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic).
Figure composed by G. Monthel (UMR 7055 du CNRS).
Items made of eastern materials from the Tokay and Bükk
regions (obsidian and felsitic quartz porphyry, 360 and 340 km) are recorded
west in Moravia, at Neslovice. Obsidian and felsitic quartz porphyry are
abundant in all the Bükk area sites. Felsitic quartz porphyry is also
documented at a halfway point in some Váh valley sites, construed as `relay'
sites. In addition, the presence of the characteristic raw material of this
valley, radiolarite, is recorded in both eastern (Bükk) and western (Moravia)
sites. In a similar way, the Świeciechów flint item from northeastern Poland
found in Moravia, at Mis¡kovice (360km), alongside with Kraków Jurassic flint,
is argued to have been conveyed through the Kraków region sites, where Świeciechów
flint items are recorded, as well as items in `chocolate' flint, of similar
northern origin. In the Aurignacian, indirect procurement can be contemplated
for two of the four 300 km transfers. One is associated with the presence of Świeciechów
flint in Moravia, at Urc¡ice-Golštýn (380 km), where Kraków Jurassic flint is
also recorded. There again, the Kraków sites, which yield some Świeciechów
flint (three items at Kraków-Sowiniec), can be interpreted as `relay' sites.
Another transfer is associated with the presence of 10 obsidian items at Nová
Ddina I in Moravia (320 km), alongside with radiolarite, and these were possibly
conveyed through the Váh valley sites.
Western Central
Europe
In WCE, only one 300km transfer is recorded, in connection
with Hohlenstein- Stadel, an Aurignacian site of the Swabian Jura. It is
associated with a few end products in Baltic flint from northern Rhineland (400
km). While in the Swabian Jura, all other long-distance transfers are
throughout the Upper Palaeolithic oriented eastwards (240 km) and westwards
(220 km) along the Danube River, suggesting direct procurement of materials
during (seasonal?) group movement, this transfer is oriented north-south. Small
quantities of Baltic flint have been found at the Aurignacian site of
Wildscheuer in the Rhineland, some 140km distant from the closest source, and
the assumption is that down-the-line trade to southwestern Germany conveyed the
items recovered at Hohlenstein-Stadel.
Western Europe
In WE, basically as a reflection of the state of current
research, 300km transfers are so far only acknowledged for the French
Aurignacian (n = 2 occurrences). These transfers relate to one item each of
grain de mil flint conveyed from western Charente to the Ariège (at Tuto de
Camalhot) and the Hérault (Régismont-le-Haut).
Indirect procurement by down-the-line trade through social exchange in
the Aurignacian of WE (southern France). Figure composed by G. Monthel (UMR
7055 du CNRS).
Grain de mil flint also occurs at several of the Vézère
valley sites in the Périgord, and two types of northern Aquitaine flints
(Bergeracois and Fumel) have been identified at the Tuto de Camalhot and Régismontle-
Haut. Indirect procurement by down-the-line trade via Périgord `relay' sites is
therefore suggested for the 300km grain de mil transfers. In this respect, it
is of additional interest that shells of Atlantic coastal species occur both at
Périgord sites and at the Tuto de Camalhot.
It does not necessarily ensue from the above examples that
direct procurement is the only underlying mechanism for transfers.
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