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Technologies For The Control Of Heat And Light In The Vézère Valley Aurignacian, Randall White, Romain Mensan, Amy E. Clark, Elise Tartar, Laurent Marquer, Raphaelle Bourrillon, Paul Goldberg, Laurent Chiotti, Catherine Cretin, William Rendu, Anne Pike-Tay, Sarah Ranlett

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

We can trace the beginnings of our knowledge of early Upper Paleolithic (Aurignacian) use of fire to the pioneering 1910-1911 excavations at Abri Blanchard undertaken by Louis Didon and Marcel Castanet. At Blanchard, the excavators recognized and described fire structures that correspond in many ways to features excavated more recently in Western and Central Europe. Here, we address the issue of heat and light management in the early Upper Paleolithic, demonstrating a pattern that builds on these early excavations but that is refined through our recent field operations. Topics to be discussed include (1) recently excavated fire structures that suggest …