Non-utilitarian lithic objects from the European Paleolithic

We present here previously unpublished non-utilitarian Paleolithic stone objects, within the contextual framework of similar objects from European sites. The occurrence of non-utilitarian lithic objects, often modified, in Middle Stone Age or Upper Paleolithic sites is now widely accepted as evidence of symbolic behavior associated with the appearance of Homo sapiens. However the occurrence of non-utilitarian and unusual objects in far earlier sites raises questions about their significance. Our purpose is not to discuss their meaning, which is unknown to us, but to approach their diversity and to trace their evolution. From the earliest beginnings of mankind, various objects have been found in the occupation sites that have no apparent functional link with any technical activity or food procurement. This type of object is more obvious from the Acheulian times onwards and then becomes common in the Late Pleistocene. The inventory and classification according to the object characteristics (raw material, color, shape, degree of transformation, etc.) and the context of the sites (chronology, stratigraphy, paleoenvironment) help in identifying specific hominin behavior. Perhaps they were intended to convey symbolic expression, quite vague in any case for the earliest periods, but at least their occurrence in the sites suggests some non-utilitarian concerns among the people who made them.