The origins of Clovis technology and the nature and timing of the first populations to reach the Western Hemisphere is one of the most contentious issues in American archaeology. With the rejection of “Clovis-first”, many scholars consider that all colonising migrations followed a route out of Asia and across Beringia into North America. However, none of the technologies present in the far northeast of Asia or Beringia exhibit the manufacturing processes that were used in Clovis. To address this enigma, Stanford and Bradley proposed a radical alternative for the origins of Clovis. They argue that a small pioneering group of Solutreans crossed the Atlantic ice sheets of the LGM and reached the shores of North America. The basis for this argument stems from technological similarities between Clovis and the Solutrean, as well as from climatic, oceanographic, and ethnographic data. Biface manufacture is at the centre of their technological analysis, specifically comparing the reduction sequences of the distinctive Solutrean laurel leaf points and comparing them to Clovis points. This thesis tests the assumption of Stanford and Bradley that the blade manufacturing technologies of Clovis and Solutrean were “virtually identical”. By analysing the blade manufacturing processes from the Solutrean assemblage at Laugerie-Haute and the Clovis assemblage from the Gault site and comparing them to the broader technological patterns present across Eurasia between ~30,000 BP and 11,000 BP; this thesis supports the findings of Stanford and Bradley with the amendment that Clovis specifically intended to produce curved blades but did not use blades to produce projectile points. While convergence cannot be completely ruled out, there is a lack of evidence that would explain the number of similarities in the manufacturing processes. Thus it remains highly likely that interaction across the ice-edge corridor of the Atlantic may have occurred during the LGM.

En Europe occidentale, la phase climatique du Dernier Maximum Glaciaire couvre une période-clé pour l’étude des dynamiques évolutives du Paléolithique supérieur. Correspondant au passage du Solutréen au Magdalénien, en passant par le Badegoulien, cette intervalle chronologique (entre 20 000 et 15 000 BP) est considéré comme un moment de «rupture» touchant tant au domaine techno-économique (productions lithiques et osseuses) que symbolique (art pariétal et mobilier). Le travail mené ici vise à interroger si la parure, qui possède ses propres sphères techniques et symboliques, a également été impactée par les bouleversements ambiants de l’époque. Avec près de 3000 objets de parure issus de sites français (Bassins parisien, ligérien et aquitain), une analyse diachronique, combinant approches morphométriques, technologiques et fonctionnelles, a pour cela été réalisée. À la lumière des nouvelles données acquises, une réévaluation des «normes» ornementales de chaque ensemble chrono-culturel étudié est ici proposée. Les résultats obtenus montrent que les pratiques de décoration corporelle de la fin du Solutréen, du Badegoulien et du début du Magdalénien n’échappent pas à la mutation pressentie. Elles se révèlent mouvantes et témoignent de profonds changements techniques et symboliques. On assiste à un renouvellement de la composition des parures et au développement de modalités de fabrication inédites qui évoquent l’émergence progressive et non généralisée de nouvelles traditions ornementales. Ces autres façons de penser et de se représenter par la parure se font ainsi l’écho des importants remaniements socio-culturels ayant eu lieu au cours du Dernier Maximum Glaciaire. / In Western Europe, the Last Glacial Maximum climatic phase covers a period-key for the study of the upper Palaeolithic dynamics, corresponding to the passage of Solutrean-Badegoulian-Magdalenian periods. This chronological interval (between 20 000 and 15 000 BP) is considered as a moment of "break" touching the techno-economic (lithic and osseous industries) and symbolism (rock-art and movable art) domains. This present work aims at questioning if the personal ornaments, which possess its own technical and symbolic spheres, was also impacted by the ambient upheavals of time. With about 3000 pieces discovered in French sites (Paris, Loire and Aquitaine Basins), a diachronic analysis, combining morphometric, technological and functional approaches, is realized for it. From the new acquired data, a revaluation of the ornamental "standards" of every cultural entity is proposed. The obtained results show that the ornamental practices of the end of the Solutrean, the Badegoulien and the beginning of the Magdalenian periods do not escape the anticipated transfer. These are unstable and expose technical and symbolic deep changes. We observe a renewal of the ornament composition and a development of new manufacturing modalities. These facts suggest the progressive and local emergence of new ornamental traditions. These other manners to think ant to represent itself by the ornaments testify about the important sociocultural reorganizations having taken place during the Last Glacial Maximum.