First Obsidian in the Northern French Alps during the Early Neolithic

An exceptional discovery was made in 2013 in the northern French Alps, at the Grande Rivoire site in Sassenage (Isère department): an obsidian bladelet from Sardinia was found in a cultural horizon dated to about 5360-5210 cal b.c. The abundant arrowheads found with it are characteristic of the Earl...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of field archaeology Vol. 44; no. 3; pp. 180 - 194
Main Authors Nicod, Pierre-Yves, Perrin, Thomas, Le Bourdonnec, François-Xavier, Philibert, Sylvie, Oberlin, Christine, Besse, Marie
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Routledge 03.04.2019
Maney Publishing
Subjects
Alps
Archaeology and Prehistory
Early Neolithic
Humanities and Social Sciences
micro-wear
obsidian
raw material
technology
typology
Néolithique ancien
Obsidian
Obsidienne
French Alps
Alpes
Early Neolithic
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Summary:An exceptional discovery was made in 2013 in the northern French Alps, at the Grande Rivoire site in Sassenage (Isère department): an obsidian bladelet from Sardinia was found in a cultural horizon dated to about 5360-5210 cal b.c. The abundant arrowheads found with it are characteristic of the Early Neolithic in the South of France (Cardial/Epicardial). Yet there was no pottery or domestic fauna, and only discrete markers of farming. The typological, technological and micro-wear analysis of this bladelet, as well as the determination of the origin of the raw material, open new avenues of reflection for the neolithization of the northern Alps, in particular concerning the role played by the Early Neolithic cultures of northern Italy.
ISSN:0093-4690
2042-4582
DOI:10.1080/00934690.2019.1580077