2021-07-01 15:06:22 • ID: 2257
A short introduction into the Levallois Techniques
Figure 1 shows a Levallois Point, re- fitted to a Levallois Core. Figure 2 shows separated pictures of the triangular flake-also called Levallois Point- and Figure 3 the corresponding Core.
This mode of Levallois Production is called linear or preferential Levallois technique (Boeda 1983)- see below.
Today Levallois-Perret is a town in the Île-de-France region. It lies some 6 km from the centre of Paris in the north-western suburbs of the French capital. It is the most densely populated town in Europe and, together with neighbouring Neuilly-sur-Seine, one of the most expensive suburbs of Paris.
In 1857 Boucher de Perthes was the first who described in nuce the Levallois technique by his findings from the Somme gravels, without coining a particular name.
Particular stone artifacts (distinctive cores and flakes) were recovered in large quantities in 1867 by Reboux from Levallois-Perret and were subsequently referred to as “Levallois Technique " by G. De Mortillet in 1883, who especially focused on the characteristic triangular and oval flakes. Mortillet already noted the close connection of these flakes with the Acheulian and Mousterian.
Some credit should also go to Victor Commont who first reconstructed this particular type of debitage in 1909. According to a definition, suggested by Francois Bordes in 1961, the Levallois technique is characterized by the manufacture of a "flake of a form predetermined by special preparation of the core prior to the removal of that flake". It was Bordes, who first mentioned that Flaking is exclusively done with a hard hammer.
Levallois flakes can be processed further by retouching, as seen in Figure 4, which show a scraper on a triangular Levallois flake from the Nievre Area in France.
Anyhow Bordes short definition was obviously too unspecific for a full technological characterization of Levallois. It became also clear that there is a plethora of techniques under the broad "Levallois" umbrella, that had to be described more in detail.
A new Generation of Archeologists (Boeda, Tixier, Van Peer, Kuhn...) used experimental data and refittings from high resolution Archeological records for a deeper understanding of Levallois.
Although these scholars disagree in some minor aspects, the main points of their characterization will shortly described here, following the Texts of P.A. Mellars (The Neanderthal Legacy 1996) and E. Boeda (The Definition and Interpretation of Levallois Technology 1995).
- The classic Levallois reduction is clearly geared towards removing large flakes from a surface rather than a volume (Boeda 1995). The core is divided into two major asymmetrical convex "surfaces" and two corresponding "volumes" The lower face is used to prepare the continuous striking platform around the perimeter of the core, while the upper face is carefully prepared for the production of one or more Levallois flakes.
The intersection of these two surfaces is defined by a plane of intersection. In contrast to Discoid Cores, Levallois Cores always show the existence of hierarchization of the two volumes-see 1705 Indeed some researchers maintain that one can still call a technique Levallois if only one essential is present: two hierarchically related surfaces separated by a plane of intersection
Where the preparatory flaking was carried out in a predominantly radial or centripetal fashion from various points around the core perimeter, the resulting flakes are oval or rectangular in outline and show clear traces of this radial flaking on their dorsal surfaces.
In other cases, however, the preparatory flaking was oriented either primarily or exclusively from either one or both ends of the core, leading to the production of flakes with a more elongated or triangular form. A good example are Nubian triangular Cores
Recurrent techniques can be Uni- or Bipolar. Unipolar techniques are characterized by the fact, that the subsequent Levallois flake is removed along the same axis as the first and in the same direction. Bipolar techniques are characterized by the fact, that the subsequent Levallois flake is removed along the same axis as the first , but in the opposite direction. Uni- and Bipolar Levallois Techniques were often used for the production of Levallois Blades, similar to the example, shown in Figure 5 (from the Charente)
The distal ridge, which lies approximately along the axis of the core is created by striking two unidirectional divergent removals undertaken from the distal part of the core. A series of smaller flakes is then removed from the sides of the other end of the core and a facetted platform is prepared for the removal of the Levallois point.
Type 2 cores are marked by an elaborated centripetal preparation arranged perpendicularly to the central axis of the triangular silhouette of the Levallois surface from which a Levallois point, unlike the ‘‘classical’’ Levallois points is struck (Guichard and Guichard 1964).
This evolution of lithic equipment may be related to the invention of new, more efficient, hunting strategies see here: 1494
Surf the Blog for more information about the Discoid Technique:
here 1424 , here 2077 , and here 1705
Suggested Reading around Levallois:
P.A. Mellars: The Neanderthal Legacy 1996.
Harold L. Dibble and Ofer Bar-Yosef (Eds): The Definition and Interpretation of Levallois Technology (Monographs in World Archaeology, Band 23) 1995
Marie-Louise Inizan, Michèle Reduron-Ballinger, Hélène Roche Jacques Tixier: Technology and Terminology of Knapped Stone 1999
Provenance: Collection Patric Favre (FR), Edouard Perez (FR), and Schweinfurth Collection (GER)
Resources and images in full resolution:
- Image: 2021-07-02_Levallois_Unipolar_Preferentiel.jpg
- Image: 2021-07-02_levallois_getrennt2.jpg
- Image: 2021-07-02_levallois_getrennt_1_neo.jpg
- Image: 2021-07-02_Levallois_Unipolar_Preferentiel.jpg
- Image: 2021-07-02_levallois_blade.jpg
- Image: 2021-07-09_nievre.jpg
- Extern Link: www.researchgate.net…figures?lo=1
- Extern Link: www.researchgate.net…241685228_Technology_and_Terminology_of_Knapped_Stone
- Extern Link: eprints.soton.ac.uk…Bolton%2520Final%2520PhD%2520Thesis.pdf