Repository of stigmas on present-day deer antlers and application to the Acheulean site of Cagny-l'Epinette (MIS 9-10, Somme, France), concordance or discordance?
Résumé
The use of antlers is well known in the Upper Paleolithic and Neolithic. Both as a soft organic hammer, as a pickaxe, axe sheath, harpoon, assegai, eye needle, carving tool, beads, etc. But what about their use for the oldest periods, and in particular the Lower Palaeolithic? We will attempt to answer this question from the Acheulean site of Cagny-l'Epinette (Somme, MIS 9-10). A first study of present-day deer antlers was conducted in order to record all natural traces in a reference repository. This study includes the elaboration of a database that provides information on several parameters: antler length, polishing, indentations, fractures, etc. Following the macroscopic observations on the natural antlers, silicone moldings and resin prints were made, allowing a detailed analysis of these various marks with the SEM (scanning electron microscope). We then applied this reference repository to the archaeological antlers of our site, and present you the preliminary results of these studies where the previous observations will be contradicted or confirmed.