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http://www.aggsbach.de/2014/03/chatelperronian/

The Chtelperronian: a fully developed Leptholithic Industry

by
Katzman

March 1,
2014

The common paradigm: The Chtelperronian industry (Chtelperronian or Castelperronien in French) is

considered to be the very last behavioral testimony of Neanderthals in France and northern Spain. For a few
millennia, Neanderthals switched to systematic blade production, focused on stone knives that could also be used
as projectile points, and in some instances produced domestic bone tools and used black and red pigments as
well as personal ornaments (Soressi and Roussel 2010).
These are three Chtelperronian points (6,3 , 5,4 Fig.1,2,4), and 3,5 (Fig.3) cm long. They were found before

Pradel`s important excavations in 1968 at the famous cave Les Cotts. This cave opens on the left bank of the
Gartempe, one kilometer north of the village of Saint-Pierre-de-Maille (Vienne, France). Discovered in the late
19th century, the cave was the subject of numerous excavations throughout the 20th century. The cave PrsRous was discovered in 1878 by A. Jamin and first exploration trenches were opened in 1880 and 1881 by R.
Rochebrune with the permission of the landowner R. Fontenioux. Rochebrune found two archaeological layers: a
Mousterian and Aurignacian. At the same time the grotto was renamed Grotte des Cotts . Thereafter, until
1910, the site was explored by O. Rochebrune, son of R. Rochebrune.
The Grotte des Cotts was classified a historical monument in 1931 and further excavations were stopped until
1951 when Louis Pradel made a survey near the entrance of the cave. In 1968, he opened a new trench in front of
the cave and found a succession of Chtelperronian, followed by Protoaurignacian (lentille correzienne)Aurignacian I and a Gravettian level (Pradel, 1967). This stratigraphy was confirmed in 1982 by F. Lvque, who
also provided the first C-14 dates. Six archaeological layers were individualized, numbered 1 to 6 from the ground
surface. The Chtelperronian layer had a thickness of 30 cm and was separated from other archaeological
remains by the sterile strata H and I under- and upper-lying the Chtelperronian with a thickness of 35 and 15 cm
respectively.
Layer 6 (I): Mousterian between 32 and 28 k.a. BP
Layer 5 / (G): Chtelperronian; (Prigordien II) between 32-34 k.a. BP
Layer and 3+4 (E): (Aurignacian I; (Aurignacien ancien volu ) about 30 k.a. BP
Layer 2 (C): Gravettian; (Prigordien IVa): about 32 k.a. BP
These dates, which were assembled before the advent of AMS and advanced pretreatment procedures were
measured on large bulk samples. Like many other C-14 age determinations of the Chtelperronian they remain
highly problematic.
Renewed excavations were therefore conducted by Soressi
et al. since 2006 and aimed to redate the sequence with the
help of different advances methods, document the site
formation processes and aspects of the Chatelperronian,
Protoaurignacian and Early Aurignacian behavioral repertoire
at a single location.
Talamo et al. recently published calibrated C-14 Dates for the
site and used a Bayesian model ror age calculation :
Mousterian between 46-44, Chatelperronian around 42-40,
Protoaurignacian: a short episode around 39 and early
Aurignacian around 39-36 k.a. BP roughly coincident with
the onset of the strong cold phase Heinrich 4. These new data
fit perfectly into the long chronology of the Upper Paleolithic
(http://www.aggsbach.de/2014/01/13656/ ) and are consistent
with the redating of other sites (Grotte du Renne, Grotte
des Fes). They confirm that Chtelperronian and Protoaurignacian do exist in the southern margins of the
Parisian Basin, away from their geographical core area (the Pyrenees and the periphery of the Mediterranean)
and that the Chatelperronian is considerably older than the early C-14 data suggest, with only minimal temporal
overlap between the Chatelperronian and the Protoaurignacian /Aurignacian. Claimed interstratifications between
the Chatelperronian and Aurignacian have been falsified during the last years (Piage, Roc de Combe,
Chatelperron-Grotte des Fes). Stratigraphically the Chatelperronian is always to be found below the
Protoaurignacian and Aurignacian.

Chtelperronian points show a high degree of variation. The length of such points is
reported to be between 3,5 and 12 cm (mean length of 107 undamaged Chtelperronian
points at Quinay: 5,2 cm). Most items are classified arched backed points with regular
abrupt retouching on one side. Sometimes the retouches are confined to the distal half of
the blade, especially in small items (Fig.3). In some cases the tip shows bilateral
retouches or even inverse retouches on one margin. Several of these points are very
similar to Azilian points. Some of them would labeled as Gravettes in a Gravettian
context, because of their regular and straight back as shown by the first example of this
post (Les Cottes point according to Pradel). Sometimes the back of the curved
examples is relatively thick and the retouches tend to be irregular as demonstrated by the
second point, displayed here. Microtraceology of Chtelperronian points from Grotte du
Renne revealed that they were used as knives and also as projectile tips, which seems
also to be very probable for the different sized points shown here.At Les Cottes the larger
specimens were often made from Turonian flint, while local brown flint was used for the
smaller ones.
In contrast to older observations, the Chtelperronian is a pure Leptolithic industry
without a Mousterian component, consisting of blades from asymmetric blade cores
aimed mainly to produce blanks for Chtelperronian points and bladelets from separate cores, made from small
blocks. Although the end product of bladelet production during the Chtelperronian resembles the bladelets of the
Protoaurignacian, the system of their production is different.
Chtelperronian points, endscrapers, especially semi-circular end-scrapers, and some burins on a break and
borers/becs are always present, although the production of Chtelperronian points is always the focus of lithic
production (up to 70% of the retouched artifacts) . Middle Palaeolithic technological components ( Denticules,
side scrapers), which, by the way, are found in small numbers in many Upper Paleolithic industries,
( http://www.aggsbach.de/2014/01/fallen-out-of-time-anachronistic-tools/) , are absent or rare from modern
excavations of Chtelperronian layers.
The first results of a technological study of the Grande Roche at Quinay sequence show that the lithic production
associated with level Egc (Archaic Castelperronian) must be assigned to the Mousterian of Acheulean Tradition.
Levels Egf to Ejo both yielded a homogeneous fully developed leptolithic system for the production of
Chtelperronian blade blanks and Dufour bladelets. The chaine operatoire and the end products did not
significantly change over time. At another key-site, Saint-Csaire, the Ejop layer (Achaic Castelperronian )
contained two different sub-layers, a Mousterian one Ejop INF, and a Chatelperronian one, Ejop SUP.
The suggestion, that we can follow several substages (early -evolved-late) of the Chtelperronian must be
abandoned regarding the results of the technological reevaluation at Quinay . This also holds true for the early
Chtelperronian at Les Cottes, which was once be regarded as an evolved Perigordian II (in contrast to the
Perigordian I = Chtelperronian at Ferrassie) on purely typological grounds.
A Paradigm that has to be questioned: But who were the
makers of the Chtelperronian-the Neanderthals, the AMHs or
both? In my view, there is no convincing argument to assign
this industry to a single species. In the Levant at 100 k.a.
both species used a similar Mousterian toolkit and there is no
reason why the situation should be different during the EUP
of South/West France.
The Neanderthal remains at St Csaire and from Arcy, as well
as the formal similarity between backed knifes during the MTA
and Chtelperronian points are not really convincing
indications for a production of the Chtelperronian by
Neanderthals. Based on stratigraphic evidence, the cultural
continuity from the MTA to the Chtelperronian is weak and

the association between Neanderthal remains and Chtelperronian strata at multilayered sites somewhat
ambivalent. Moreover, the presence of an elongated flake core-reduction system in the MTA is not exclusive of this
technocomplex and exists in other Final Mousterian industries (Denticulate Mousterian, Neronian:
http://www.aggsbach.de/2010/09/the-neronian-in-the-rhone-valley).
The manageable Top 35 Chtelperronian sites in France and Northern Spain:
1. Abri Bordes-Fitte, Roches dAbilly, Dpartement Indre-et-Loire; France
2. Abri du Chasseur, Fontechevade, Charente; France
3. Bos de Ser, Dpartement Corrze; France
4. Brassempouy, Dpartement Landes; France
5. Chapelle-aux-Saints, Dpartement Corrze; France
6. Chez-Pourr Chez-Comte, Dpartement Corrze; France
7. Combe Capelle, Dpartement Dordogne; France
8. Cueva del Pendo , Basque Country; Spain
9. Cueva Morn, Cantabria; Spain
10. Ekain, Basque Country; Spain
11. El Pendo, Cantabria; Spain
12. Fontenioux, Dpartement Vienne; France
13. Gargas, Dpartement Hautes-Pyrenes; France
14. Gatzarria , Dpartement Pyrnes-Atlantiques; France
15. Grotte de la Chaise ,Vouthon, Charente; France
16. Grotte des Fes, Chtelperron, Dpartement Allier; France
17. Grotte du Renne, Arcy-sur-Cure, Dpartement Yonne; France
18. Grotte du Trou de la Chvre, Bourdeilles, Dpartement Dordogne; France
19. Isturitz, Dpartement Pyrenes-Atlantiques; France
20. La Cote , Dpartement Dordogne; France
21. La Ferrassie (E), Dpartement Dordogne; France
22. La Quina Aval, Dpartement Charente; France
23. Labeko Koba , Basque Country; Spain
24. le Bast, Dpartement Pyrnes-Atlantiques; France
25. Le Moustier, Dpartement Dordogne; France
26. Le Piage, Dpartement Lot; France
27. Le Portel; Loubens; Dpartement Arige; France
28. Les Abeilles, Dpartement Dordogne; France
29. Les Cottes, Dpartement Vienne; France
30. Pair-non-Pair, Dpartement Dordogne; France
31. Quinay, Dpartement Vienne; France
32. Roc de Combe, Dpartement Lot; France
33. Roche-au-Loup, Merry-sur-Yonne, Dpartement Yonne; France
34. Saint-Csaire, Dpartement Charente-Maritime; France
35. Vieille-Grange; Mrigny, Dpartement Indre; France

Suggested Readings:
http://www.aggsbach.de/2010/12/chatelperronian-points-from-the-pas-estret-site/
http://leidenuniv.academia.edu/MorganRoussel
http://u-bordeaux1.academia.edu/JBordes