Apprenticeship lithic debitage. Examples from a 27.3 ka cal BP Gravettian collection from Bistricioara-Lutărie III (Ceahlău Basin, NE Romania)
Apprenticeship lithic debitage. Examples from a 27.3 ka cal BP Gravettian collection from Bistricioara-Lutărie III (Ceahlău Basin, NE Romania)

Summary/Abstract: The Upper Palaeolithic site from Bistricioara-Lutărie III (NE Romania) lies on Bistrița’s 16-18 m terrace; archaeological investigations of the past three years revealed an intricate cultural sequence within a complex sedimentary matrix. The 27.3 ka cal BP Gravettian layer uncovered in test pits S 1 and S 3 offered few recognizable faunal remains, traces of a habitat structure and a peculiar lithic assemblage, with shouldered points and an almost exclusive use of at least three varieties of Cretaceous flint. The lithic assemblage is dominated by secondary debitage products, followed by flakes and laminar products. Among the retouched items, burins and backed bladelets prevail, alongside truncated and marginally retouched blades, while endscrapers and shouldered blades and bladelets are rather scarce. The lithic sample presented here includes 9 flakes, 7 crested blades and bladelets, 3 burins and 2 shouldered blades which are likely to have originated in novice-like lithic debitage attempts.

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