Men of the Old Stone Age: Their Environment, Life and Art

by Henry Fairfield Osborn

Art.
Microlithique, microlith.
Burin, graver (first appearance).
Industrial.
Coup de poing, hand-stone (rare and degenerate).
Pointe, point.
[AN]Chatelperron (curved).
double-pointed.
Racloir, scraper.
convex.
concave.
straight.
double-edged.
triple-edged.
Grattoir, planing tool.
Perçoir, drill, borer.
Couteau, knife, blade.
Enclume, anvil stone.
Percuteur, hammer-stone.
War and Chase.
Pointe, point.
Pierre de jet, throwing stone.
Couteau, knife, blade.
Pointe de lance, bone lance-heads.

First, as for transition from the older culture, it is important to note throughout that the 'Aurignacian retouch' is identical with the Mousterian; this retouch is on one side of the flake only and gives it a short, abrupt, and blunt edge. As we shall see, it is essentially different from that discovered by the Solutrean flint workers and employed in Solutrean times, a superior technique which produced a sharp, thin edge, many of the implements being dressed on both sides. On the other hand, Breuil concludes that the early Aurignacian industry can only in part be derived from the late Mousterian and that it is partly due to the invasion of a race which ranks much higher in the scale of intelligence than the Neanderthal.

Fig. 149. Implements designed for engraving and sculpture. Evolution of the angulate graving-tool or burin, from the early Aurignacian of Chatelperron (left), to the late Solutrean of Placard (right). After Breuil. About one-third actual size. These small implements, chiefly made from elongated flakes and distinguished by a sharp angulate edge at one end suitable for graving on bone or stone, are especially characteristic of the Aurignacian stage of culture, in which they first appear. 1, 2. Chatelperron points. 6. Prototype of the Magdalenian 'parrot-beak.' Some of these burins, such as 7, are made into grattoirs or planing tools at the other end.

The pure early Aurignacian industry is seen in the regions of Dordogne and the Pyrenees in the layers of Chatelperron, Germolles, Roche au Loup, Haurets, and Gargas. The cave of Gudenushöhle, near Krems, in Lower Austria, exhibits a very primitive phase of the early Aurignacian. Here numerous small flints were found, resembling those found at Brive by the Abbés Bardon and Bouyssonie; similar microliths are also found at Pair-non-Pair, Gironde, at various stations in Dordogne, and at the Grottes de Grimaldi, on the Riviera, in layers of corresponding age.

The chief invention of this stage is the 'Chatelperron point' (Fig. 149), a direct development from the curved point of the Abri Audit (Fig. 151) and a dominant type of the early Aurignacian culture. Small almond-shaped 'coups de poing' are still met with at Chatelperron and a few other localities, but Breuil suggests that these may not be real examples of Aurignacian industry but implements carried off from older stations.

The use of elongated flakes is another feature of this early industry, but the retouch of the edges cannot compare with the fine 'grooved retouch' of the middle Aurignacian; as yet the flakes are thick and large. Many of the scrapers are 'keeled' (grattoirs carénés).

An entirely new implement appears in addition to the triangular and elongate flakes of flint shaped into points and scrapers of forms; this is the primitive graving-tool, or burin, which at first is quite rare, but which we know was designed by the Crô-Magnon artists for their early engravings on stone (Fig. 149).

Art Implements.
Microlithique, microlith.
[AO]Burin, graver.
Ciseau, chisel.
[AO]Gravette, etching tool (first appearance).
New Industrial Implements.
Pointe, point (leaf-shaped).
[AO]Grattoir caréné, keeled scraper.
Perçoir, drill, borer.
[AO]curved (first appearance).
Couteau, knife, blade.
[AO]curved-in edges.
Poinçon, awl (bone).
New Implements of War and Chase.
Pointe à cran, shouldered point (stone).
Pointe de sagaie, javelin point (bone).

A fourth highly distinctive feature of the early Aurignacian is the use of a variety of implements of bone and horn consisting chiefly of javelin points and drills and of coarse, spatula-like tools.