The adaptive nature of Neanderthal discoidal technology: raw material constraints and technological variation during the late Mousterian of southwestern France

Abstract

Understanding how Neanderthals adapted lithic technologies to varying environmental and raw-material conditions is fundamental to exploring their behavioural variability over time and space. Here we investigate this question via a quantitative techno-typological comparison of two late Middle Paleolithic discoidal assemblages from southwestern France – Le Moustier and Pech de l’Azé IV. Our results show that Neanderthal groups at both sites employed a highly similar chaîne opératoire typical of Discoid-Denticulate Mousterian assemblages, despite contrasting raw material quality and nodule size, as well as pronounced environmental instability during Marine Isotope Stage 3. Neanderthal technological responses to varying raw material conditions primarily involved adjustments in reduction intensity rather than shifts in flake production methods. The Pech-de-l’Azé IV assemblage shows more intensive core reduction and higher recycling associated with the exploitation of small, lower-quality nodules, whereas the Le Moustier assemblage reflects less intensive reduction of larger, better-quality flint nodules. Our findings highlight the flexibility of the discoidal system to varying raw material constraints while producing the consistent products with identical morphologies. The behavioural plasticity of late Neanderthal groups in southwestern France during Marine Isotope Stage 3 is reflected in the capacity to assess the physical properties and exploit raw materials of varying quality and size in differing resource settings while maintaining a stable technological tradition.