Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 40 (1) 2012

Annotation:  Bairaki – a Lower Paleolithic Site on the Lower Dniester The Denticulate Mousterian as a Supposedly Distinct Facies in Western Central Asia Non-utilitarian Lithic Objects from the European Paleolithic Decorated Birch-Bark Artifacts from Section VI of the Gorbunovsky Peat-Bog An Alakul Funeral and Ritual Site in the Eastern Orenburg Region Medieval Amulet Illustrating the Divine Horseman Myth, Rozhdestveno, Perm Territory Face Images in Lower Angara Rock Art Boats in the Rock Art of Kanozero and Northern Europe New Data on Bronze Age Jewelry in the Southeastern Urals The Old Russian Male Funerary Attire (Based on Finds from the 10th–11th Century Burial Mounds at Goc Investigation of Wooden Burial Structures in the Process of Archaeological Excavations A Contribution to the Study of the Eastern Links of the Bronze Age Culture of the Northern Middle Vo Secular Imagery in the Islamic Space of Medieval Zirikhgeran Stone Statue of Ailyan, Gorny Altai Jurchen Pendants of the Netsuke Type Elements of Religious Ritualism in Popular Medicine among the Izhma Komi of the Lower Ob Region Early Metal Age Crania from Bolshoy Oleniy Island, Barents Sea   

Non-utilitarian Lithic Objects from the European Paleolithic

M.-H. Moncel, L. Chiotti, C. Gaillard, G. Onoratini, and D. Pleurdeau.

We present here previously unpublished non-utilitarian Paleolithic stone objects, within the contextual framework of similar objects from European sites. The occurrence of non-utilitarian lithic objects, often modifi ed, in Middle Stone Age or Upper Paleolithic sites is now widely accepted as evidence of symbolic behavior associated with the appearance of Homo sapiens. However the occurrence of non-utilitarian and unusual objects in far earlier sites raises questions about their signifi cance. Our purpose is not to discuss their meaning, which is unknown to us, but to approach their diversity and to trace their evolution. From the earliest beginnings of mankind, various objects have been found in the occupation sites that have no apparent functional link with any technical activity or food procurement. This type of object is more obvious from the Acheulian times onwards and then becomes common in the Late Pleistocene. The inventory and classifi cation according to the object characteristics (raw material, color, shape, degree of transformation, etc.) and the context of the sites (chronology, stratigraphy, paleoenvironment) help in identifying specifi c hominin behavior. Perhaps they were intended to convey symbolic expression, quite vague in any case for the earliest periods, but at least their occurrence in the sites suggests some non-utilitarian concerns among the people who made them.

Keywords: Non-utilitarian lithic objects, Europe, Lower Paleolithic, Middle Paleolithic, Upper Paleolithic.