Middle Paleolithic Bone Technology at the Abri Suard Site (Charente, France)

Abstract

Bone tools provide key insights into the technological behaviors of Palaeolithic human groups, as they exemplify the closely integrated relationship between subsistence practices and technological strategies. Far from being limited to the processing of animal carcasses for nutritional purposes, faunal remains were deliberately selected, modified, and incorporated into toolkits. This is particularly evident in retouchers and soft hammers, well-documented implements in Middle Paleolithic contexts that are often produced by recycling butchery by-products. The Abri Suard site (Charente, France) has provided evidence of ancient Neanderthals in western Europe, featuring evidence of bone tool technology, including at least 62 retouchers and 3 soft hammers from a total of 6,496 analyzed faunal remains. These tools, which represent approximately 1% of the analyzed assemblage, were mainly manufactured from reindeer and horse remains, the most abundant identified species at the site. Cut marks, notches, and other anthropogenic modifications observed on the bone blanks reflect a complex operational sequence in which consumption and tool production were closely intertwined. Most of these elements were used for retouching flint, the main raw material used for lithic tool production that was previously identified at the site. Furthermore, the identification of soft hammers on a rhinoceros bone is noteworthy as this taxon is rarely represented in European Paleolithic bone tool industries and its use likely reflects practical exploitation of available faunal resources. Moreover, one retoucher on a horse molar represents one of the earliest registered examples of such a tool. Overall, the Abri Suard assemblage offers a detailed record of bone technology in the Middle Paleolithic, documenting the taxa exploited, the skeletal elements selected, including uncommon elements such as those mentioned above.