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This work deals with Late Upper Palaeolithic (Azilian and Laborian) lithic industries in the French Pyrenees. Assemblages are compared at an interregional level in order to contextualize and clarify this period. Since its discovery at the end of the 19th century, the Azilian was characterized by its specific lithic industry (backed points), osseous artefacts (harpoons) and artistic remains (painted pebbles). However, new discoveries have shed new light on our understanding the Azilian. Six lithic assemblages were examined in this study: Rhodes II (Ariège), Troubat (Hautes-Pyrénées), La Tourasse (Haute-Garonne), Le Poeymaü (Pyrénées-Atlantiques), Gouërris (Haute-Garonne) and Pagès (Lot), allowing us to investigate the evolution of the Azilian and Laborian technocomplexes and to comparatively evaluate this process at the scale of Western Europe. The beginning of the Azilian in the Pyrenees differs from what is observed in the northern Aquitain Basin; the Magdalenian seems to persist until 14 200 cal. BP, while the Early Azilian is only observed in the Basque Country. However, during the recent phase some common traits are identified at a larger scale (France, Pyrenees, Cantabria), most notably a technological simplification. Still, the Pyrenean Azilian (between 14 200 and 12 500 cal. BP) preserves its regional lithic signature, defined by the presence of double backed points, small scrapers and the use of bipolar reduction on an anvil. The Laborian, sporadically present in the Pyrenees, may indicate a later technical reinvestment, characterized by a more regular and straight production of lamino-lamellar blanks, which is a trend that appears to be observed in the whole Western Europe around 12 500 cal. BP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the Pleistocene-Holocene transition, the European archaeological records can be divided into two broad entities – the Epigravettian in the northern Mediterranean Basin and the industries characterized by the return of a well-developed blade technology in northwestern Europe. This large Western European techno-complex comprises several cultural traditions defined essentially by various types of projectile points. One of these cultures, the Laborian, occupies an area at the crossing of northern traditions (Ahrensbourgian) and the Epigravettian techno-complex. Situated between the Azilian and the Mesolithic, the Laborian (ca 12.5–11 Ka cal. BP) is, paradoxically, poorly defined in southwestern France where it was initially defined. In fact, data for this culture is essentially available in the surrounding regions and especially in northern and western France. Revaluation of key Laborian lithic assemblages as well as the discovery of new sites today allow to draw a new picture of the various cultural traditions occupying this large area around 12 Ka cal. BP. Despite the scarcity of data on hunted fauna, we can observe the dominance of the exploitation of large game typical of open temperate landscapes. Osseous industry is also rare but we note the maintenance of bone barbed points in few sites. Artistic. conventions (engraved pebbles or bones) show several symbolic innovations, such as the development of a unique zoomorphic art. Lithic hunting weaponry essentially based around pointed elements, much like during the Azilian, allows to highlight two chronological phases along the Laborian culture: an older phase with straight backed points with truncated bases (Malaurie points) and bitruncated backed blades ("rectangles") and a recent phase with pointed backed bladelets (Blanchères points) and bitruncated trapezoids. The production of large, standardized, straight blades with flat cross-sections during the Laborian reveals clear similarities with concepts recognized in Belloisian collections from Northern France even if blade lengths rarely reach the standards known on these sites. Finally, the technological study of domestic stone tools and hunting weaponry is an effective means for reconstructing larger scale evolution processes influencing these last Pleistocene societies and the persistence of their traditions into the European Mesolithic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]