Summary

The Azilian is an archaeological culture of the Epipaleolithic of Western Europe. It was initially defined by Édouard Piette in 1889 from the industries discovered in the Mas-d'Azil cave in Ariège. In this deposit, layers with numerous painted pebbles and flat harpoons are interspersed between the Magdalenian and Mesolithic levels.

The Azilian begins around 14,000 years before present (AP). It straddles the cool Alleröd interstadial and, from 12,900 years BP, the last glacial phase of the Recent Dryas. Early in the period, reindeer begin to give way to deer. Deer antlers are used to make flat harpoons, often coarse and perforated with an elongated notch at the base.

The Early Azilian is characterized by a clear increase in back points; burins decrease in favor of short scrapers, and the blades show a still quite neat and calibrated cutting. The Late Azilian is marked by unstandardized cut supports, armatures calibrated by retouching, numerous back points and rare burins.

Contrary to the assertions of Piette (1895), the perforated harpoon is not an absolute marker.

Backed points are obtained by abrupt retouching. Shaped like a penknife blade (as described by Édouard Piette), these pieces have since been known as Azilian points and are considered to be throwing weapon points.

The lack of precision in the initial definition has led prehistorians from different countries to recognize Azilian industries in many different contexts from Cantabrian Spain to Switzerland, Scotland (Obanian), Italy (Romanellian), the Netherlands (Tjongerian), Romania (Clisurian) and the Crimea (Shan Koba culture).

The Azilian is more or less contemporary with the Federmesser culture of northern Europe. These industries, dated from about 14,000 to 11,600 years ago, share some common features (painted or engraved pebbles), but some local variants have been given specific names or are simply referred to as Epipaleolithic.

Some sites

Le Mas-d'Azil (reference site, Ariège), le Bois Ragot (Gouex, Vienne), la Tourasse (Saint-Martory, Haute-Garonne), les Scilles et Gouërris (Lespugue, Haute-Garonne), Les Chaloignes (Mozé-sur-Louet, Maine-et-Loire) le Bichon and the site of Monruz in Neuchâtel (canton of Neuchâtel, Switzerland), Hauterive-Champréveyres (lake of Neuchâtel, Switzerland)...

Azilian art was long considered to be characterized by the abandonment of figurative drawing in favor of abstraction, but a plate dated to about 12,000 years ago AP discovered in Angouleme, engraved with four superimposed animal drawings (one of which is surrounded by the rays characteristic of Azilian art), attests to the continuity with Magdalenian art.

Sources

1. Azilian
2. Azilien
3. ^ a b Barbaza, Michel (2011). "Environmental changes and cultural dynamics along the northern slope of the Pyrenees during the Younger Dryas" (PDF). Quaternary International. 242 (2): 313–327. Bibcode:2011QuInt.242..313B. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2011.03.012.
4. ^ Osborn 1915, pp. 460 Piette's excavation described, 464, pebbles.
5. ^ Osborn, Obermaier and others thanked in the Preface ix-x, Piette's excavation described 460, Scottish "stations" 475
6. ^ a b Straus 2008, p. 312.
7. « le harpon perforé n'est pas un marqueur absolu  » : c'est-à-dire qu'il ne fait pas systématiquement partie des assemblages d'outils aziliens.
8. M. Barbaza, 1999, Les Civilisations postglaciaires. La vie dans la grande forêt tempérée, Histoire de la France préhistorique, La Maison des Roches, 128 p., 76 fig.
9. Ефименко П. П. Первобытное общество. Очерки по истории палеолитического времени. Ленинград, 1953. 663 с.
10. Moure A. El origen del hombre, 1999. ISBN 84-7679-127-5