L'utilisation de la stéatite dans les grottes des Balzi Rossi (ou grottes de Grimaldi)

Steatite is a soft, variously coloured and sometimes translucid mineral. It is found in mountainous areas, within metamorphic outcrops, and occasionally as river pebbles. Talcum powder is made by scratching and grinding it. During the Upper Palaeolithic, it was used to make pendants and figurines. Talcum powder was possibly used for tanning hides, but this cannot be definitely proved. Steatite items were found in the Balzi Rossi sites, at the frontier between Italy and France, but most of them were excavated long ago. We discuss the place of origin and stratigraphic position of each of them, and draw comparisons with similar artifacts found in other Italian and French sites. Working techniques, and specially perforating techniques, became more and more complex through time. During the Gravettian-Early Epigravettian, small steatite pebbles were looked for to carve human figurines. This raw material was possibly more easily found at the end of the Upper Palaeolithic, after mountain deglacierisation, when people were able to explore new countries freely.