Raw, pre-heated or ready to use: discovering specialist supply systems for flint industries in mid-Neolithic (Chassey culture) communities in southern France

Abstract

The silex blond or honey-coloured (Bédoulien) flints which originate in the Vaucluse are distributed over a wide area of the south of France and beyond. Examination of the features of cores and blades shows that a variety of supply systems were in use: in some cases the raw material was transported as blades, in others as heated preforms to make it easier to knap. Different places were targeted with different products. The paper is dedicated to Patricia Phillips who beat a path through to this more sophisticated, more diverse Neolithic world.