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The development of the Azilian in Western Europe 14,000 years ago is considered a “revolution” in Upper Paleolithic Archaeology. One of the main elements of this rapid social restructuring is the abandonment of naturalistic figurative art on portable pieces or on cave walls in the Magdalenian in favor of abstract expression on small pebbles. Recent work shows that the transformation of human societies between the Magdalenian and the Azilian was more gradual. The discovery of a new Early Azilian site with decorated stones in France supports this hypothesis. While major changes in stone tool technology between the Magdalenian and Azilian clearly mark important adaptive changes, the discovery of 45 engraved schist tablets from archaeological layers at Le Rocher de l’Impératrice attests to iconographic continuity together with special valorization of aurochs as shown by a “shining” bull depiction. This evidence suggests that some cultural features such as iconography may lag far behind technological changes. We also argue that eventual change in symbolic expression, which includes the later disappearance of figurative art, provides new insight into the probable restructuring of the societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of the Neolithic way of life in the western Mediterranean during the sixth millennium cal. BC is the consequence of the spread of populations from the Near East after successive stages of cultural remodelling. Despite the clear contribution of the Near Eastern and Aegean Neolithic to the economic and technical changes that happened to the west, little is known here about their symbolic legacies, because of the scarcity of representations and ritual evidences associated to the earliest western Neolithic contexts. Excavations at the rock shelter of Pendimoun (southeastern France) yielded the first anthropomorphic stone sculpture from the western Mediterranean Neolithic (early sixth millennium cal. BC). Using both carving and painting techniques, it represents a realistic-looking human face and is a unique example within the western Mediterranean and European frameworks. After describing the shaping and colouring details of the mask, the authors here deal with its possible social significances and cultural connections. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]