Techno-functional approach to a technological breakthrough: the second Mesolithic at Montclus rock shelter (Gard, France)

Abstract : In the sixth millennium cal BC, in southern France, the spread of blade and trapeze industries ended a high stability of the technical and economic choices of Epipalaeolithic (Azilian) and First Mesolithic (Sauveterrian) groups. With the Second Mesolithic, the lithic technical system, technical standards but also the conceptual scheme substantially modified. To better characterize and understand these changes, a new techno-functional analysis was carried out applied to the lithic industries of the Montclus rock-shelter (Gard, France), which offers a significant stratigraphic sequence covering the whole of the Mesolithic (Montclusianfacies of the Sauveterrian and Castelnovian). In this paper, we discuss some aspects of this technological breakthrough in the organization of lithic production and functional behaviour during the Second Mesolithic. We will also discuss the technic evolution of those productions during the beginning of the Castelnovian sequence.