Resources for equipment or raw material? The case of cervids antler remains from the Mesolithic cave of the Clos-de-Poujol (Aveyron, France) - HAL Accéder directement au contenu
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Resources for equipment or raw material? The case of cervids antler remains from the Mesolithic cave of the Clos-de-Poujol (Aveyron, France)

Résumé

Before they can be a subject of analytical investigations, the bones, antlers and teeth from archaeological contexts originally belong to live animals. As such, they offer a large set of valuable ressources possibly chosen by prehistoric societies to be used for different purposes, domestic activities or exchange goods, either as a specific raw material or as elements transformed by shaping. A complex process, as much a mental one as a technical one, allows these hard organic ressources to become a material, subsequently processed into equipment or ornaments. The most recent studies of bone and antler industries aim to reconstruct part of this process. However, depending on the sites, the status of these remains is not immediately obvious: raw material or worked material only, or both ? Artefacts from the Mesolithic layers of the Clos-du-Poujol site illustrate such a case. There, after sieving, a significant amount of small worked and unworked fragments of cervid antlers was sorted from the faunal remains, under magnifying lenses. This was all the more unexpected since only a very small number of items had initially been regarded as belonging to the bone and antler industry. Moreover, in comparison with the proportion of Red deer bone remains and to a lesser degree of Roe deer, the cervid antler fragments are usually poorly represented in the French Mesolithic faunal assemblages. How is this kind of ressource to be investigate? As an anatomical part of cervids, antler remains should be addressed by zooarchaeological analysis. As a potential raw material used by prehistoric societies, these remains should be studied as anthropic productions. Finally, as archaeological remains, they may help diagnose the nature of the deposits from which they come, as well as the status of the site. Thus, a common and specific analysis has been conducted here, taking into account the economic, technical and contextual aspects of the site. The paper will discuss data on the procurement and exploitation of the cervids yielded by the site of Clos-de-Poujol, in order to seek relevant links between economic and technical systems.
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halshs-03923208, version 1 (04-01-2023)

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  • HAL Id : halshs-03923208 , version 1

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Anne Bridault, Éva David, Marc Boboeuf. Resources for equipment or raw material? The case of cervids antler remains from the Mesolithic cave of the Clos-de-Poujol (Aveyron, France). 15th UISPP Congress - 4/C61-Animal exploitation by prehistoric hunter societies, L. Fontana; F.-X. Chauvière, Sep 2006, Lisbonne, Portugal. pp.135-154. ⟨halshs-03923208⟩
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