The Upper Palaeolithic cultures in Central Europe are traditionally defined on the basis of lithic artefacts, predominantly various types of retouched tools, which are usually considered to be typical of a given culture.For the Late and Final Gravettian, the shouldered points and Kostenki knives are supposed to be the main fossiles directeurs in this region.Based on the identification of these artefacts in Central and Eastern European lithic assemblages, terms such as "Willendorf-Kostenki/Willendorf-Kostenkian", or "Eastern Gravettian" or even "Shouldered Point Horizon" have emerged, pointing to the analogy between sites hundreds of kilometres apart.However, new excavations, revisions of old collections, as well as modern research methods, have brought new insights into these emblematic artefacts.Although they are likely to be found in some Central European Late and Final Gravettian assemblages, their occurrence is less common than had been anticipated in the past.Our paper aims to propose a historical "Central European" view on these traditional fossiles directeurs considering their identification and cultural value.We also describe their influence on the historical deve lopment of terminology in Central European Palaeolithic archaeology. INT RODUCTIONThe Gravettian is one of the pan-European cultures of the Upper Palaeolithic, which has long attracted attention for its rich material culture and symbolic aspects (i.e.Female figurines/Venus, burials, and personal ornaments).Central Europe, located at the intersection of Western and Eastern influences, plays an essential role in defining this term.It was the classical sites of former Czechoslovakia, such as Předmostí Ia and Dolní Věstonice I, which represented one of the first analogies to the sites of La Gravette or Kostenki I, sites that led to the definition of the term Gravettian itself (Fig. 1; e.g. Garrod 1938; Laccore 1960).From the first half of the 20 th century, a strong emphasis was particularly placed on the analogies between Central and Eastern European sites, based, among others, on the characteristic lithic tools (fossiles directeurs; Fig. 2; 3).These typological comparisons led to the separation of the "Western" and the "Eastern Gravettian" (e.g.Hawkes 1940).Shouldered points and Kostenki knives were traditionally discussed in the case of comparing Central and Eastern Europe (e.g.Kozłowski 1969; 1986; Otte 1981).Considering these comparisons, the terms such as "Willendorf-Kostenki/Willendorf-Kostenkian", "Eastern Gravettian" or even "Shouldered Point Horizon" have emerged, pointing to the analogy between sites hundreds of kilometres apart (e.g.Grigor'ev 1968; 1993; Gvozdover 1998;Hromada 1998; Kozłowski 1969; Kozłowski/Sobczyk 1987; Lisitsyn 2019; Svoboda 1996).Today, however, it is evident that although Kostenki knives and shouldered points are likely to be found in some Late and Final Gravettian assemblages of Central Europe, their occurrence is less common than had been anticipated in the past (Klaric et al. 2015; Polanská/Hromadová 2015;Polanská/Hromadová/Sázelová 2021).In recent years, the issue of Central European Late and Final Gravettian has received increasing attention, since new excavations, revisions of historical collections, as well as modern research methods, have brought new insights into this topic.Gradually, the occurrence and character of
Loading…
Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 4 citations exist upstream.
Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.
Imported from OpenAlex (CC0) — nothing here is generated.