PAGE 1
SOLUTREAN
UPPER PALEOLITHIC
FRANCE, SPAIN & PORTUGAL
EST. 21,000 - 18,000 YEARS AGO
PAGE 1 OF 2 PAGES
COPYRIGHT DECEMBER 31, 2007 PETER A. BOSTROM
Cast of the largest Solutrean Laurel-Leaf point.
THE VOLGU LAUREL-LEAF POINT (CAST)
SOLUTREAN PERIOD
UPPER PALEOLITHIC
EASTERN FRANCE
CAST IS FROM LITHIC CASTING LAB'S PRIVATE COLLECTION OF CASTS

   This is a picture of a cast of the largest Laurel-Leaf points ever found. Fourteen similar examples were found in a cache at Volgu in the Department of Saonet-et Loire in eastern France. This Laurel-Leaf point measures 13 3/4 inches (35 cm) long.
   During the Upper Paleolithic period, Solutrean flintknappers were able to developed one of the most important lithic manufacturing techniques. They perfected a way to produce very thin bifaces with highly controlled percussion  and pressure flaking.

Solutrean stone tools abstract image.

ABSTRACT
THE SOLUTREAN
UPPER PALEOLITHIC PERIOD
FRANCE, SPAIN & PORTUGAL
EST. 21,000 TO 18,000 YEARS AGO

    This article illustrates and describes several examples of Solutrean stone tools from four different sites in southwestern France. The Solutrean era was a short lived Upper Paleolithic culture that lasted about 3,000 years. The Solutrean people were skilled hunters who were well adapted to a rigorous cold environment. They lived in rock shelters, caves and open air sites. In lithic technology, their most significant invention was the ability to manufacture thin bifaces in the form of laurel-leaves. During the Upper Solutrean phase they were producing willow leaf, single shouldered, barbed and concave base projectile points.

    "The French Solutrean has left us the most spectacular examples  of Paleolithic stone chipping, notably the most unbelievably delicate and handsome Solutrean Laurel-Leaves."---1970, Jacques Bordaz, "Tools of the Old and New Stone Age," p. 76.
      "Some of the Solutrean toolmakers appeared to vie with each other in crafting laurel-leaf blades that were so thin as to be translucent."---1988, Roger Lewin, "In The Age of Mankind," pp. 147-148.
     "Some (laurel-leaves) have such thin cross sections that it is difficult to imagine how they could have served any utilitarian purpose." ---1964, Philip E. L. Smith, "The Solutrean Culture," Old World Archaeology: Foundations of Civilization, p. 28.
     "The Solutrean is characterized by several forms of thin, leaf-shaped points, shaped by distinctive flat, highly invasive unifacial and bifacial retouch."---1988, Ian Tattersall, Eric Delson & John Van Couvering, "Encyclopedia of Human Evolution and Prehistory," Solutrean, pp. 532-533.
     "The Solutrean is the dominant industrial type of western Europe during the last glacial maximum, when northwestern and central Europe were apparently abandoned." ---1988, Ian Tattersall, Eric Delson & John Van Couvering, "Encyclopedia of Human Evolution and Prehistory," Solutrean, pp. 532-533.
    (The Solutrean era) "was a time of inventiveness and ingenuity under environmental and resource stress."---2000, Lawrence Guy Straus, "Solutrean Settlement of North America? A review of Reality," American Antiquity 65, (2), pp. 219-226.
 

Solutrean stone tools abstract image.
  
THE SOLUTREAN
UPPER PALEOLITHIC PERIOD
FRANCE, SPAIN & PORTUGAL
EST. 21,000 TO 18,000 YEARS AGO

   The Solutrean industrial complex appears in western Europe approximately 21,000 years ago. The Solutrean period also brings with it several new and innovative technologies. One of the most important developments during this period involves lithic technology with the production of very skillfully crafted stone tools. These events occur within the last major division of the Old World Paleolithic called the Upper Paleolithic which dates from 40,000 to 10,000 years ago. The Neanderthals disappear during this time and the basic ideals of what we believe it is to be a modern human are established. It's a time when ghosts and spirits appear to connect with concepts of an afterlife and art in the form of paintings, engravings and three dimensional sculptures appear.

Seven examples of Solutrean stone tools from France.
 CLICK ON PICTURE FOR LARGER IMAGE
SOLUTREAN TOOLS
UPPER PALEOLITHIC
FRANCE, SPAIN & PORTUGAL
EST. 21,000 TO 18,000 YEARS AGO
AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY COLLECTION

     These seven tools were collected many years ago on sites in southwestern France. They were collected from the sites of Laugerie Haute, Le Ruth and Fumel. They represent two different stone tool manufacturing techniques. Five were made from blades or flakes that were shaped by pressure flaking along the edges. The shouldered point and the black uniface point were additionally partially flaked on the surface of one side only. These five uniface tools were made with simple stone tool manufacturing techniques that were developed during the Aurignacian period. The two laurel-leaf points are products of biface manufacture with the use of percussion and pressure flaking. This technology became highly developed later in the Solutrean period when some of the thinnest bifaces ever made were being produced.

     Although the most important Solutrean site is Laugerie Haute the type site for the Solutrean complex is located at Solutre in eastern France. In 1921 R. A. S. Macalister writes, "Close to the village of Solutre near Macon (Saone-et-Loire), there rises a prominent cliff, called the Rock of Solutre, in the shelter of which was established one of the most important Paleolithic stations of all Europe." The actual site is in  field. The excavation there began in 1866 and continued at intervals for many years. If it hadn't been for another site named Laugerie Basse a short distance away from Laugerie Haute, Gabriel de Mortillet would have named Laugerie Haute the Solutrean type site.

Solutrean Laurel-Leaf point from France.
CLICK ON PICTURE FOR LARGE TRIPLE IMAGE
SOLUTREAN LAUREL-LEAF POINT
UPPER PALEOLITHIC
LE RUTH ROCK SHELTER
SOUTHWESTERN FRANCE
EST. 21,000 TO 18,000 YEARS AGO
AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY COLLECTION

     This laurel-leaf point was found on the Le Ruth rock shelter site on the Vezere River in southwestern France. The Solutrean industry is characterized by several different forms of thin bifaces that have been found on sites in France, Spain and Portugal. Some of the smaller bifaces were hafted onto the ends of spears or darts. Larger laurel-leaf points were used as knives and were probably hafted onto short handles. The largest and most skillfully made bifaces, such as those found in the Volgu cache, were probably used for some type of ritual purpose.
   It's likely that this laurel-leaf point was once used as a knife. It was made by reducing the preform down to its present thinness with percussion flaking and trimming the edges with pressure flaking. It was made from a light colored opaque chert that has become heavily patinated. It measures 5 7/8 inches (13 cm) long, 2 1/8 inches (5.4 cm) wide and 3/8 inch (.9 cm) thick.

     The Solutrean is one of several different sub-periods within the Upper Paleolithic Period. The Perigordian is first and includes Chatelperron and Gravettian. The Aurignacian is a more recent Early Upper Paleolithic complex that dates from 34,000 to 29,000 years ago. The Aurignacian is recognized as the first complex in Europe that is definitely associated with modern humans plus they also establish core and blade technology. The Solutrean complex appears between the Aurignacian and the Magdalenian periods. The Solutrean continues for about three thousand years between 21,000 and 18,000 years ago. The Magdalenian period is last and dates from 17,000 to 11,500 years ago.

Solutrean Laurel-Leaf point from France.
CLICK ON PICTURE FOR LARGER IMAGE
SOLUTREAN LAUREL-LEAF POINT
LAUGERIE HAUTE SITE
SOUTHWESTERN FRANCE
UPPER PALEOLITHIC
EST. 21,000 TO 18,000 YEARS AGO
AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY COLLECTION

    This small laurel-leaf point was found on the Laugerie Haute site on the Vezere River in southwestern France. These small bifaces are believed to have been used as projectile points that once tipped the ends of spears or darts. They were probably thrown with the use of a spear thrower. This point is made of a semi-translucent honey colored chert and measures 2 9/16 inches (6.5 cm) long 1 1/16 inches (2.7 cm) wide and 5/16 inch (.7 cm) thick.

      The climate during the Upper Paleolithic period in western Europe was generally cold. The Solutrean culture occupied western Europe well south of Paris during the last glacial maximum at a time when northwestern and central Europe were apparently abandoned. The Solutrean people who were living in western Europe at this time were well adapted to a rigorous cold environment. But the Solutrean was short lived, lasting only about 3,000 years.
CONTINUE ON TO PAGE TWO

"REFERENCES"

1921, Macalister, R. A. S., "A Text-Book Of European Archaeology," Vol. I, p. 371-373.
1924, MacCurdy, George Grant, "Human Origins A Manual Of Prehistory," pp.177-179.
 1964, Smith, Philip E., "The Solutrean Culture," Old World Archaeology: Foundations of Civilization, pp. 24-32.
1964, Semenov, S. A., "Prehistoric Technology," d. Broad pressure retouch and the problem of the so-called Solutrean technique, (from 1957 English translation) p.55.
1968, Bordes, Francois, "The Old Stone Age," pp. 158-161.
1970, Bordaz, Jacques, "Tools of the Old and New Stone Age," p. 76 & 81.
1981, Leaky, Richard E., "The Making Of Mankind," p. 189.
1988, Lewin, Roger, "In The Age of Mankind," pp. 147-148.
1988, Tattersall, Ian, Delson, Eric, & Couvering, John Van, "Encyclopedia of Human Evolution and Prehistory," Solutrean, pp. 532-533.
1992, Leakey, Richard, "Origins Reconsidered, In Search Of What Makes Us Human," p. 323.
1999, Patten, Bob, "Old Tools-New Eyes," p. 59.
2000, Straus, Lawrence Guy "Solutrean Settlement of North America? A review of Reality," American Antiquity 65, (2), pp. 219-226.
2002, Haynes, Gary, "The Early Settlement Of North America, The Clovis Era," p. 167.
Personal Communications with Jim G. Shaffer, PhD., Case Western Reserve.

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