La «pointes à dos alternes», un nouveau fossile directeur du Gravettien ?

The Gravettian site, called La Vigne Brun (Loire, France) offers an interesting typological diversity of microliths, including Gravette points, flechettes and Font-Robert points. A new kind of backed piece also exists: the «pointe à dos alternes» (alternate backed point). The making of this tool follows a process distinct from that of the Gravette points, although both kinds of tools share technical characteristics. The «pointe à dos alternes» is a very technically normalized and highly invested tool, certainly corresponding to a functional specialization: the shaping of the backs produces an extremely sharp point with blunted edges. This tool has been identified in various archaeological assemblages, always corresponding to the first phases of the Gravettian. A chronological connotation can thus be added to its functional specificity, allowing the •pointe à dos alternes” to be defined as a fossile directeur, for the early French Gravettian.