Couteaux de Rouffignac: A new insight into an old tool

Abstract : At the entrance of the Rouffignac cave (Dordogne, France) an important and complete Mesolithic sequence was identified during the excavations of C. Barrière in the middle of the last century. What was brought to light from the Early Mesolithic layers is a very peculiar assemblage characterized by the uncommon dimensions of the production and a great variety and percentage of tools. Among the other peculiarities of the site is the presence of the so-called “couteaux de Rouffignac”, backed knifes characterized by basal notches. A new techno-functional analysis has been carried out on this specific tool in order to understand its role in the lithic assemblage and verify its correlation with a specific activity as proposed in the typological definition of the tool itself.