Definition of the Solutrean industry
Definición de la industria solutrense
- Date
- 1869 (definición); industria c. 22 000-17 000 a.P. · confidence medium
- Place
- Solutré, Saône-et-Loire, France
- Credited to
- Gabriel de Mortillet (classification); anonymous Paleolithic culture (industry itself)
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What was discovered
De Mortillet fixed the term "Solutrean" in his chronological classification of the Upper Paleolithic for the lithic industry found at Solutré, characterised by finely flaked bifacial "laurel-leaf" points with no equal for thousands of years afterwards.
The year of de Mortillet's classification is given with medium confidence: the industry itself is radiocarbon-dated to roughly 22,000-17,000 years ago. The "Solutrean hypothesis" of a European origin for the first Americans is discredited by genetics (the Anzick-1 skeleton, with Siberian affinity).
What it led to
- Standard classification of the European Upper Paleolithic (Chellean-Mousterian-Solutrean-Magdalenian)
- Solutrean hypothesis on the peopling of the Americas (highly disputed)
- Study of pressure-flaking techniques