2025-09-23 フランス国立科学研究センター（CNRS）
Top left: Microtomographic post-processing and virtual reconstruction of a Littorina obtusata shell from La Roche-à-Pierrot (Saint-Césaire, France), broken in situ during post-depositional events.Centre left: Perforated Littorina obtusata shells associated with Châtelperronian stone tools.
Bottom left: Red and yellow pigments from the same area.
Right: Microscopic views of the modifications observed on Littorina obtusata: perforations made by pressure (a-e, g, h), pigment staining (f, h).
© S. Rigaud & L. Dayet
＜関連情報＞
- https://www.cnrs.fr/en/press/oldest-shell-jewellery-workshop-western-europe
- https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2508014122
シャテルペロニアン文化の西限における多様性：ラ・ロッシュ＝ア＝ピエロ（サン＝セゼール）出土の貝玉と顔料 Châtelperronian cultural diversity at its western limits: Shell beads and pigments from La Roche-à-Pierrot, Saint-Césaire
François Bachellerie, Brad Gravina, Solange Rigaud, +30 , and Isabelle Crevecoeur
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Published:September 22, 2025
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2508014122
Significance
The period between roughly 55 and 42 ka in Eurasia witnessed considerable biocultural changes, including the demic replacement of local Neanderthal populations by dispersing Homo sapiens groups. Once thought to be a rapid, monolithic process, new data have shown this demographic turnover to be far more complex, including a high degree of variability in stone tool technologies, symbolic expressions, including personal ornaments, and an earlier presence of H. sapiens in Eurasia than previously thought. Here, we present a robust, statistically supported spatial and site formation analysis of shell beads and pigments associated with Châtelperronian stone tools at La Roche-à-Pierrot, Saint-Césaire (France), and discuss their relevance for tracing Paleolithic cultural variability and the emergence of symbolic expressions.
Abstract
The timing and mechanisms underlying the gradual replacement of Neanderthal populations by Homo sapiens groups have elicited heated debate for decades. The Châtelperronian of France and northern Spain has figured prominently in these discussions. While the Neanderthal authorship of this techno-complex is far less certain than previously thought, the Châtelperronian is now generally accepted as being among the first genuine Upper Paleolithic industries in Eurasia rather than a “transitional” stone tool technology. Here, we report the first association of shell beads with Châtelperronian artifacts from new excavations at the site of La-Roche-à-Pierrot, Saint-Césaire (France), supported by a multiproxy spatial analysis that incorporates site formation processes. Similar types of personal ornaments are unknown from Middle Paleolithic contexts. Comparable examples have, however, been recovered from contexts penecontemporaneous with the Châtelperronian in south-eastern Europe and around the Mediterranean. This hitherto undocumented combination of an early Upper Paleolithic industry and shell beads provides insights into cultural variability in western Europe and raises the question as to whether the makers of the Châtelperronian were influenced by or formed part of the earliest dispersals of H. sapiens into the region.
