Searching for consistencies in Chatelperronian pigment use

Evidence supporting the hypothesis that Neanderthals developed cultural adaptations comparable to those associated with the Upper Palaeolithic is controversial, and come from a handful of sites, mainly attributed to the Chatelperronian. Pigments play a growing role in this debate. We present a critical review of available information on Chatelperronian pigment use, and submit pigment lumps from three Chatelperronian sites, Roc-de-Combe (Lot), Le Baste, and Bidart (Pyrenees Atlantiques) to a microscopic, elemental and mineralogical analysis using multifocus optical microscopy, SEM-EDS, XRF, Raman, and mu XRD techniques. The thirty-nine pigment lumps from Roc-de-Combe consist of a great variety of red and black iron and manganese oxide rich rocks, probably collected at close and relatively distant sources. A third of the pieces from Roc-de-Combe and one piece from Bidart and Le Baste bear percussion marks and facets produced by grinding. Our results demonstrate that a consistent use of pigments, interpreted as reflecting site function, occurs at sites located in the South-western area of the known distribution of the Chatelperronian. Considering that this area is distant from the location of the earliest Proto-Aurignacian and Early Aurignacian sites from Germany and Austria, and that available radiocarbon dating indicate a chronological anteriority of Roc-de-Combe Chatelperronian, we argue that the hypothesis that Chatelperronian pigment use results from Neanderthal 'acculturation' is improbable. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.