Stone disc production at Pincevent (France) reveals versatile uses of colouring materials in the Late Magdalenian

Abstract

Level IV0 at Pincevent, dating from the Late Magdalenian (15-14 ka cal BP), has revealed a singular assemblage of more than 400 artefacts in colouring materials, including a unique series of perforated discs. This unusual occurrence of shaped colouring materials extends the diversity of uses and functions of these mineral resources. Using a combination of non-invasive petrographic analysis and detailed study of traces of anthropogenic modifications, we identified the nature, provenance and petrophysical properties of the rocks used, as well as the techniques employed to work them and their possible uses. The results show a variety of mineral materials employed – consisting of oolitic hematites, fine hematites, ferruginous sandstone and chalk – to produce a wide range of colours, including red and yellow as well as white. Disc shaping involves techniques adapted to mineral materials, such as knapping, as evidenced here for the first time on colouring materials. Several examples of the recycling of broken discs into new discs or into colouring powder attest to the versatile use of colouring materials and highlight their incorporation into various fields of decorative, technical and domestic activities during the Upper Palaeolithic.