Eldon unifaces are unifacially flaked stone tool artifacts that are unique to the Canadian Plains of the early-Middle Period (7,500-4,500 ya). They are unique because cortex covers the ventral side. The artifacts also have a suit of traits such as being thinned (or an attempt was made to thin), unifically flaked, and there is a preference for them to be made from large quartzite cobbles. Further morphological traits indicate that there are four related types of these tools: Classic, Corner, Side, and Amorphous; the first two are the focus of this thesis. Design theory and Châine Opératoire are used to study how the artifacts were made and used. Other geographic regions are sought for similar artifact forms: Manitoba, Eastern Woodlands /Maritimes, and British Columbia. It is the cobble spall tools from British Columbia that has the most striking similarity in morphology and manufacturing strategy. There are also important differences like in how Eldon unifaces are more heterogeneous and circumscribed to a shorter period of time than the British Columbia artifacts.<p> A morphological and usewear analysis is undertaken to ascertain the function of Classic and Corner Eldon unifaces. The morphological analysis indicates that the tools were likely used to process medium to hard materials; however, the literature is rife with contraditctions on how to relate morphology with function. This questioned the reliability of a morphological approach to function and indicated that it needed to be supported by a usewear approach. The usewear analysis supported the inferences of the tools working medium to hard materials and also indicated how the tools were used (motion). Further, the usewear and morphological analyses also indicated that the Eldon unifaces were likely hafted.

Ce travail de thèse porte sur l'analyse fonctionnelle des assemblages lithiques de la période protoaurignacienne (environ 40 000 – 32 000 BP) dans l'arc méditerranéen, visant à mettre en évidence les comportements techno-économiques de ces groupes humains. L’attention est portée sur deux aspects principaux associés à l’émergence de l’homme moderne en Europe occidentale : la production systématique des lamelles et l’exploitation de la matière dure animale. Plusieurs gisements sont considérés, appartenant à deux aires géographiques majeures : la Zone méditerranéenne (Grotte de l’Observatoire, Esquicho Grapaou, La Laouza) et le Nord de la France (Grotte des Cottés). / The Ph.D thesis deals with the Protoaurignacian lithic assemblages (circa 40 000 to 30 000 BP) from Mediterranean area sites via usewear observations, in order to display the techno-economic behaviours of these hunter-gatherer groups.Two major topics are considered, in association with the emergence of the modern Humans in Western Europe: bladelet production and osseous material exploitation. Many sites are concerned by our analysis, from different geographic zones: Mediterranean Area (Observatoire cave, Esquicho Grapaou, La Laouza) and Northern France (Les Cottés cave).

À partir de 12000 BC. se mettent en place au Proche-Orient de profondes mutations sociales, économiques, techniques et culturelles qui, sur près de 5 millénaires, ont conduit à l’émergence de sociétés sédentaires dont l’économie alimentaire va reposer sur l’agriculture et l’élevage. Ce processus, la Néolithisation, s’observe au Levant Nord, notamment dans le village de Dja’de, occupé durant un millénaire par des chasseurs-cueilleurs en passe de devenir agriculteurs et éleveurs. Si l’industrie en silex des niveaux PPNB ancien (9e mill.) a déjà fait l’objet d’études technologiques et typologiques, aucune analyse tracéologique n’a été menée jusqu’à ce jour sur cet assemblage. Dans ce contexte où les rapports entre les hommes et leur environnement ont été profondément bouleversés, l’étude de la fonction des outils en pierre permet d’appréhender la nature de ces changements. Au cours de ce processus, il apparaît que la gestion de l’outillage devient plus complexe : l’intensité d’utilisation des outils s’accroit, le degré de réaffutage augmente, le recyclage est plus fréquent, les modalités de stockage évoluent. Cette analyse de l’outillage en silex de Dja’de a associé une approche fonctionnelle aux aspects habituellement étudiés (technologie et typologie). Pour cette phase encore mal connue du Néolithique précéramique, l’analyse des traces d’utilisation, appuyée sur l’expérimentation, a permis d’obtenir des éléments de réflexion nouveaux sur les activités au sein du village, sur les techniques mises en oeuvre par ses habitants et sur la gestion de l’industrie lithique et ainsi de mieux comprendre le mode de vie et l’organisation des sociétés préagricoles au Levant Nord. / Starting from 12000 BC. deep social, economic, technical and cultural mutations took place that will lead to the emergence of sedentary societies in which the food economy will rely on agriculture and farming. This process –known as Neolithisation – can be observed in Northern Levant, particularly in the village of Dja’de that has been occupied during one millennium by hunters-gatherers who will eventually become farmers. Although the chipped stone industry of the early PPNB (9e millennium) has already been the object of technological and typological studies, no use-wear analysis has yet been done. In the context where relationship between humans and their environment changed, the study of the function of stone tools is primordial to understand the nature of these changes. During this process, it appears that the management of the tools becomes more complex: the use of the tools intensifies, the degree of sharpening increases, the recycling is more frequent, and the storage modalities evolve. This analysis of flint tools from Dja’de combined a functional approach with other aspects usually studied (technology and typology). For this period of the aceramic Neolithic that is still not well documented, the analysis of the traces of use, backed up by experimentation, has brought us new insights about the village activities, the techniques used by its inhabitants and the management of the lithic production, providing us a better understanding of the way of life and the organisation of pre-agricultural societies in Northern Levant.

This dissertation focuses on two portions of the Clovis lithic assemblage recovered from Excavation Area 8 at the Gault site (41BL323) located in central Texas. Gault is a quarry-camp visited by hunter-gatherer groups for at least 13,000 years, with Paleoindian, Archaic, and Late Prehistoric occupations. Freshwater seep springs, a diverse array of floral and faunal resources, and an abundant outcrop of high-quality toolstone at the site created an ideal location for people who lived a mobile hunting-andgathering way of life. The site is currently the only locale with two stratigraphically separate Clovis components-a lower geologic unit designated 3a and an upper unit designated 3b. Both are represented in Excavation Area 8 where, in the spring of 2000, Texas A&M University (TAMU) excavated 22 1-m2 contiguous units. For this research, 3375 complete flakes were analyzed individually to characterize Clovis debitage as represented at Excavation Area 8 and to establish if there are technological differences between the debitage assemblages recovered from Units 3a and 3b. The two Clovis components are quite similar from a technological standpoint. Minor differences appear to be related to site formation processes and intensity of site use. The second objective was to determine if Clovis debitage has diagnostic technological traits that allow confident assignment to the Clovis era. To test whether Clovis debitage is distinctive, it was compared to debitage recovered from later cultural components at the site. No evidence of a true blade technology was observed in the post- Clovis Paleoindian or Early Archaic debitage assemblages, although biface manufacture continued through time. Technologically, few differences were observed between the Clovis, post-Clovis Paleoindian, and Early Archaic debitage related to biface reduction. While overshot flakes may be diagnostic of Clovis biface technology, biface thinning flakes and other non-distinctive debitage showed few differences between components. During debitage analysis pieces were selected in an attempt to identify edgemodified tools. Low- and high-power usewear analysis was employed to make determinations concerning the cultural modification or use of flakes. This study concluded post-depositional damage affected most of the collection and there was minimal usewear-or minimal observable usewear-on flakes. Taphonomic processes interfered to a great extent with drawing firm inferences on tool use and possibly hindered the identification of tools. Of the 3375 pieces of Clovis debitage originally analyzed, 26 specimens were classified as tools based mainly on invasive, patterned flaking with less reliance on microscopic use indicators. Of these, inference of use was assigned to nine tools.

Dans l'historiographie de l'âge du Bronze final, le tiers ouest de la péninsule Ibérique est considéré comme une province atlantique, qui interagit avec les autres "membres" du complexe atlantique, c'est-à-dire, les territoires de la France, de la Grande-Bretagne et de l'Irlande principalement. Dans ce réseau, les populations échangeraient individus, objets, idées et savoir-faire ; elles créeraient ainsi un espace délimité par la présence d'un lot d'artefacts communs (des outils, des armes, de la parure...) et par des pratiques communes (le festin, la déposition d'objets métalliques, etc.). Il est à noter que pratiques funéraires, architecture de l'habitat et matériel céramique sont de nature différentes et ont très tôt été exclus de cette définition, empêchant de qualifier cet ensemble de culture homogène. Un premier constat concernant la dispersion du mobilier métallique, réputé de types atlantiques, démontre qu'il existe en péninsule Ibérique des réseaux d'échanges puissants entre l'Atlantique et la Méditerranée, qui amènent à questionner le rôle et la place du territoire au sein du "complexe atlantique" européen. Ces remarques naissent d'un regard nouveau porté au vestige archéologique et amènent à questionner l'existence d'un faciès atlantique en péninsule Ibérique, et peut-être même en Europe. L'analyse des correspondances multiples, qui consiste à confronter plusieurs paramètres, répond à ce besoin de considérer le vestige archéologique comme un objet fonctionnel, fabriqué et utilisé par des hommes de l'âge du Bronze final. Dans le cas des épées, des haches et des pointes de lance, il s'agit de relever des critères quantitatifs et qualitatifs qui seront comparés successivement les uns avec les autres. L'objectif est de répondre à une série de questions précises, déterminées par des hypothèses relatives à la fabrication, à la fonction et à l'usage de l'objet. Ce travail est développé en trois temps qui se veulent les reflets des différents questionnements mis en place dès l'introduction. Le premier chapitre présente les enjeux du débat et la question principale qui oriente l'argumentation : Existe-t-il un faciès atlantique ? Le deuxième chapitre est dédié à l'étude des objets, particulièrement les épées, les haches et les pointes de lance. Cette étude rend compte du traitement statistique effectué mais également de l'analyse technique et fonctionnelle des objets. Le troisième chapitre constitue la synthèse de ces différentes approches et propose plusieurs éléments de réponse à la question de départ : existe-t-il un faciès atlantique en péninsule Ibérique ? / In the MBA and LBA historiography, the west lands of Europe - Great-Britain, Ireland, France and Iberian Peninsula - are gathered under the name "Atlantic complex". In this network, populations trade artifacts, ideas and Knowledge. Thus, they create a territory delimited by a set of communal artifacts (tools, weapons, jewellery, etc.) and by communal practices like feasts and hoards. It should be noted that burial practices, domestic architecture or potteries are of different natures, which make it impossible to call it an homogeneous culture. Since a few years, we wonder about the existence of this complex and we try to identify its features. How can we define a culture? How can we identify economic, technical or cultural areas? Does the Atlantic complex really exist? In order to answer these questions, the study of the Iberian Peninsula proved very interesting. The discovery of metallics artifact known as atlantic types let us think that Peninsula was an atlantic territory. However, facing the differences between artifacts from Peninsula and GB or France, we are allowed to challenge the existence of this complex. I propose here another approach of the Atlantic world, based on metallic artifacts found in the Iberian Peninsula. This work will be held in three parts. In the first part, I will show the problems of this work by presenting a short historiography of the methodology and its limits. I will then propose a new approach, elaborated upon my PHD work. In the second part, i will present three examples of this new approach: swords, axes and spearheads from the Iberian Peninsula. Finally, I will try to answer the question at issue : Does the Atlantic complex exist in The Iberian peninsula and in Europe in general ?