Territoire de mobilité et territoire social Structuration du territoire d'approvisionnement en matières premières lithiques dans l'Épigravettien récent au nord-ouest de l'Italie

Description

Prehistoric archeology relies on a spatially and temporally discreet datum to study the functioning and the evolution of societies in a continuous space and temporality. The study of the territorial organization of societies constitutes one of the possible ways to link these two dimensions. Based on raw material analyses and on a techno-economical approach it is possible to determine several economical ranges within the lithic provisioning territory of a site. Interpretations classically associate these ranges with scales of mobility or with material transfers. The supply area highlighted by the petrographic analysis of raw materials is a complex entity, composed of several components that can function at different times during the occupation of a site. The extended range and visiting ranges correspond to the upper scales of structuration that can be hypothesized. Some proposition has been made in order to identify criteria to identify these different ranges. In this paper, we propose to test the existence of such ranges and especially our ability to perceive them from the point of view of the lithic industries. For this, we will mobilize the data acquired in recent epigravettian contexts (Late Upper Paleolithic) in south-eastern France and northwestern Italy. We will proceed, not by studying the nature of the products brought from pre-established concentric spaces, but by seeking to identify within the supply space the elements of discontinuity that delimit spaces of distinct natures (Tomasso, 2014a) and the nature of the links that connect them. We discuss results from late Epigravettian assemblages from southeastern France (Provence) and northwestern Italy (Liguria, Tuscany) as well as preliminary data from central Italy. We base our analyses on a solid reference collection of lithic raw material availabilities in Provence, Liguria and Tuscany supported by a global understanding of the regional lithological structure. We restricted the analysis to a specific chronological period, namely the ER3, dated from circa 13 to 12 ka cal. BP. Discussion is mainly based on assemblages from the Fanciulli Cave (layer 1) and Mochi rockshelter (layer A) in Liguria (Italy) and from Isola Santa and Monte Frignone open air sites in Tuscany. Data were also gathered by qualitative analyses on other assemblages in Provence (Bouverie, Rainaude), Tuscany (Greppi Cupi, Piastricoli) and Marche (Ferrovia, Prete). For these last industries, we specifically looked for evidences of importation of extra-regional raw materials. Results (cf. table 1-4) show the existence of a two-level structured territory. The lower level derives from a multipolar and multidirectional circulation of raw materials in wide areas and conduce to distinguish two units : the Liguro-provencal Arc and the Tuscany region. The upper level results from the unidirectional circulation of raw materials from central Italy to Tuscany and Liguro-provençal Arc. The first level is interpreted as the extended range scale, the second level is interpreted as the materialization of a part of a large visiting range (or social network). Their geography and topology is enough stable through time to be identify in the archeological record. The comparison of this territory -or social network -with the italian Epigravettian range raises questions about the relationships between networks of material transfers and diffusion of norms and technical traditions leading to the definition of chronocultural entities in prehistory.

Abstract (French)

Dans le contexte du Paléolithique supérieur, la techno-économie des industries lithiques s'est concentrée sur l'étude des systèmes de mobilité. Les dimensions sociales et économiques des systèmes de production lithiques n'ont jusqu'ici été considérées qu'à la marge, ceci en raison d'une difficulté à discriminer les différentes modalités d'acquisition et de circulation des matériaux dans l'espace. À partir de données issues de sites de l'Épigravettien récent de Provence, de Ligurie, de Toscane et des Marches et en fondant nos analyses sur un solide référentiel pétroarchéologique, nous esquissons la trame d'un modèle de structuration territoriale, pouvant être décrit par au moins deux niveaux distincts. Le niveau inférieur correspond à des circulations de matériaux intenses, multidirectionnelles et multipolaires, sur des distances pouvant atteindre 300 km. Il définit deux unités : l'arc liguro-provençal et la Toscane. Le niveau supérieur est défini par une circulation unidirectionnelle depuis l'Italie centrale vers les deux unités précitées. À partir d'une analyse techno-économique des assemblages nous proposons d'interpréter le premier niveau d'organisation comme la matérialisation de territoires étendus (espaces de mobilité) et le second comme la trace d'une fraction d'un territoire social à plus large échelle. La mise en regard de ce territoire-ou réseau-social et de l'espace épigravettien italique conduit à s'interroger sur les relations entre réseaux de transferts matériels et diffusions de normes et traditions techniques aboutissant à la définition des entités chronoculturelles en préhistoire.

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