When modern humans arrived in Western Europe, they took their love of shells along with them. That’s what a new analysis in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences seems to suggest, after identifying the oldest shell workshop in all of Western Europe, at an archaeological site in Saint-Césaire, France.
Strewn with shells and colored pigments, all from around 42,000 years ago, the French jewelry-making site is connected to the Châtelperronian culture, a technological tradition that coincides with the transition between the Neanderthals and modern humans in Western Europe. The workshop, which hints at the cultural complexity of prehistoric populations, highlights that modern humans inspired an aesthetic shift in the area when they arrived, introducing new styles of art and adornment that had not been seen in Western Europe before.
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The Cultural Complexity of the Châtelperronian
In the Upper Paleolithic, around 55,000 to 42,000 years ago, the prehistoric populations of Western Europe were transforming. The area’s Neanderthals were dwindling, being supplanted by modern humans, who arrived from Africa through Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean. But, despite its importance in human history, little is known about this transition, and about the Châtelperronian tradition of tool- and jewelry-making that was tied to it. In fact, so much remains a mystery about the Châtelperronian tradition, seen only in France and Spain at this time, that it still isn’t clear whether its creators were Neanderthals or modern humans.
Top left: Microtomographic post-processing and virtual reconstruction of a Littorina obtusata shell from La Roche-à-Pierrot (Saint-Césaire, France), broken in situ during post-depositional events. Center left: Perforated L. obtusata shells associated with Châtelperronian stone tools. Bottom left: Red and yellow pigments from the same area. Right: Microscopic views of the modifications observed on L. obtusata, including perforations made by pressure (a-e, g, h) and pigment staining (f, h).
© S. Rigaud & L. Dayet
Hoping to learn more about the Châtelperronian culture, the authors of the new study turned to the Upper Paleolithic site of La Roche-à-Pierrot in Saint-Césaire, France. There, they found a collection of Châtelperronian shells — some perforated and some unperforated — and of red and yellow pigments, making the site the earliest example of a shell workshop in all of Western Europe.
According to the team, the jewelry and pigments point to a level of artistic thinking and adornment that is traditionally attributed to modern humans. Showcasing the cultural progress of the time period, the workshop suggests that the creators of the Châtelperronian tradition took inspiration from the influx of modern humans that appeared in Western Europe, or were potentially part of that influx themselves.
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A Seashell Workshop, Far From the Sea
Small and spiraled, the shells at the workshop were shades of cream, brown, and red, typical of the Littorina obtusata sea snail, and likely came from faraway coasts. Indeed, the team found that the shells were probably sourced along the Atlantic seashore, somewhere around 62 miles away from the workshop, while the pigments likely originated around 24 miles away, indicating a high level of individual mobility or human-to-human trade.
Left: Reference collection of Littorina obtusata collected from the thanatocoenosis on 8th October 2016. Right: Color variability of L. obtusata.
© S. Rigaud
The team argues that the presence of perforated and unperforated shells, and the absence of wear-and-tear on the perforations, suggest that the site was a workshop for jewelry, not for food processing or for some other activity. Meanwhile, the other artifacts from the area, including stone tools typical of the Châtelperronian tradition and fragmented bones from bison and horses, call attention to the occupants’ other activities in France, such as toolmaking and hunting.
Taken together, the results of the analysis reveal much more than the mobility and culture of Western Europe’s prehistoric populations; they also uncover the possible interactions between Neanderthals and modern humans in the Upper Paleolithic.
While it still isn’t clear who the Châtelperronian artisans who occupied this site were, the analysis implies that it is possible that they were Neanderthals, instead of modern humans, imitating the art and adornments that our own ancestors brought into the area, thousands of years ago.
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Article Sources
Our writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Châtelperronian Cultural Diversity at its Western Limits: Shell Beads and Pigments From La Roche-À-Pierrot, Saint-Césaire
- CNRS. The Oldest Shell Jewelry Workshop in Western Europe
