Resumen de Les soucoupes de l'Observatoire (Principauté de Monaco): contribution à l'étude du phénomène des grands éclats au Paléolithique ancien

Guillaume Porraz, Elisa Nicoud, Michel Grenet, Patrick Simon

• The excavations at the Observatoire Cave (Principality of Monaco), have been well published in the first volume of the Archives of the Institut de Paleontologie humaine in 1927. The authors document the presence in the « foyer k » of large flakes also called soucoupes (saucers or flying saucers in french) by L. de Villeneuve. The study of this lithic collection (N=132) indicates a production of trapezoidal to quadrangular flakes, detached on limestone cobbles that were cautiously selected, prepared and shortly exploited for one unique preferential product. These large flakes have been structured on a cortical distal end (or biseau), never retouched and characterized by a fine angle, a biplane section and a slightly convex delineation. In a techno-functional perspective, these large flakes clearly overlap the definition of the cleavers. This collection from the Observatoire Cave, which precedes 230 000 BP, also includes a series of cobbles (n=159) and one single handaxe. This lithic assemblage finds no regional equivalent, but comparisons can be made with some Acheulean large flake Industries from Spain and Northern Africa, characterized by a production of entames and the shaping of proto-cleavers (or type 0). The soucoupes of the Observatoire Cave encourage us to develop further on the peculiarities of this macrolithic technology and on their signification in a regional and Mediterranean context. Our study finally challenges the hypothesis of diffusion and consider the scenario of a local invention as plausible, within a framework of a technology that was closely adapted to the nature of the raw material.