The ‘unacceptable face’ of the West European Upper Palaeolithic

Bibliographic Data

ID7659912
AuthorsPaul G Bahn (corresponding author)
Year1978
Volume52
Issue206
Pages183-192
Publication date1978-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAntiquity (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0003-598X • E-ISSN: 1745-1744
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0003598x00072161
OpenAlexW2214706086
LanguageEN
Citations received10
References cited10

More than a century ago the publications of Gdouard Lartet laid the foundations for the nomenclature and stratigraphy of the French Upper Palaeolithic. Academic debate arising from Lartet's work continued until the 1930s by which time the framework and classification of the period were fixed. They have remained fairly static ever since. Indeed, the French system appeared unimpeachable, so that scholars strove to apply it, unchanged, to widely differing areas. Since the 1930s most work on the French sequence has been designed to confirm the results of old and 'untrustworthy' excavations, and to shore up an original framework with additional information. The situation is much the same for the way of life of palaeolithic man: the standard textbook description of savage hunters eking a living from a harsh environment was in vogue for a very long time, and one might be forgiven for believing that this hypothesis had always been dominant; this is not the case. It is little-known fact in this country that during the latter part of the nineteenth century there were major arguments in academic circles concerning the way of life in the Palaeolithic, and in particular the question of domestication during that period. Were it not for the demise of Piette and the subsequent dominance of Breuil, it is possible that the present orthodox account of the Upper Palaeolithic might be very different

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