Damien Pesesse
Research project
Through social and environmental constraints, the transition from Aurignacian to Gravettian in the northern Mediterranean zone
Project summary
Between 31,000 and 29,000 BP, a profound change in the cultural landscape was observed across the entire European continent. This corresponds to a complete overhaul of the socio-economic and symbolic systems of human groups, leading to the transition from the Aurignacian (37,000 – 30,000 BP) to the Gravettian (29,000 – 22,000 BP). Few cultural changes during the Upper Paleolithic are as profound as this one, yet it remains one of the least well-documented. The aim of this research program is to define and understand these changes in the Mediterranean region.
Our analysis straddles the chronological divide between the Aurignacian and Gravettian periods. This allows us to question the relevance of current cultural frameworks and to verify the criteria that classically distinguish these two periods (material culture and symbolic practices in particular). By the same token, it is the notions used to define and address these distinctions that we propose to question. Indeed, the paradigms employed come either from biology or geology, and are therefore not appropriate for apprehending social processes, or from social anthropology. However, unlike anthropologists, not all prehistorians have given up the ethnic temptation, which is necessary from a methodological and conceptual point of view, to approach these periods. These notions (culture, transition, etc.) structurally engender a discourse that is at least partial, if not circular, and mask the fundamental problem: what processes contribute to these social, economic and symbolic changes? How are the evolutions transcribed in this period structured over time by the development of parietal art, the first Homo sapiens burials in Europe and a complete recomposition of the technical system?
To tackle this vast question, the study developed with various specialists will focus on archaeological assemblages from southeastern France and Italy, which are richly documented (lithic industry, animal hard material industry, ornaments, fauna, human remains). This cross-disciplinary approach is necessary to tackle some of the complexity of these developments. Within this program, my personal work focuses on lithic industry, which lies at the interface of disciplines, constraints and methodologies. Beyond the stated ambition, it is also the limits of the elaboration of a paleo-history, notably with regard to the recognition of causalities, that we will endeavor to identify.
Resident hosted at Iméra in partnership with LabexMed.
