Geo-resources and techno-cultural expressions in the south of the French Massif Central during the Upper Palaeolithic: determinism and choices

The petro-archaeology of silicites defines the origin of the siliceous raw material found in archaeological sites. Recent methodological advances, like more precise facies definition, determining the provisioning path for silicites in studied sites, the 'evolutionary chain concept' and precise mapping of siliceous mineral domains, enable us to identify not only the location where any particular flint formed (primary outcrop), but also where it was collected (primary and secondary outcrops). Exhaustive studies of Upper Palaeolithic flint collections from sites in the south of the French Massif Central (Late and Final Gravettian: 'Le Blot' and 'Le Rond-de-Saint-Arcons'; Badegoulian: 'Le Rond-du-Barry' and 'La Roche-a-Tavernat') reveal an unexpected diversity of raw materials indicative of huge territories being exploited. Accordingly, we have developed a new figurative model for the origins of lithic raw material discovered in these archaeological sites, not as a site-centred radiant form, but more akin to an interrelated network of places, which is congruent with ethnographic and geographic data. The different types of silicite in the lithic industries correlated with their position within the 'evolutionary chain' allow speculation on the choices made by prehistoric hunter-gatherers within the natural constraints they faced. This in turn enables the addition of the mineral space into reconstructions of the paleo-social-space.