170 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 



from the Aurignacian centre of dispersion, and I would suggest tentatively 

 that this should be sought somewhere in the Iranian plateau. 



It has not been possible to distinguish in Palestine the various sub- 

 divisions of the Aurignacian which have been worked out for France, 

 and which to some extent must represent local developments. It should 

 be noted, however, that the French divisions are based in part on the 

 bone tools found at different levels, and in Palestine, although animal 

 bones are usually abundant, bone tools are excessively rare. A possible 

 explanation of this may be that the bone tools of the West had wooden 

 prototypes in the Near East. The large amount of charcoal found in 

 Aurignacian layers in Palestine shows that wood was still readily obtainable, 

 though the fauna points to gradually increasing desiccation. 



It is an open question and a very difficult one, how far the Aurignacian 

 and Chatelperronian have ultimately a common origin. Certain forms, 

 such as the burin and end-scraper, are found in practically all blade 

 industries, but the Aurignacian, with its use of types derived from cores 

 and consequent development of a fluting technique, has distinctive features 

 which point at least to independent evolution from an early date. 



The next stages in the French sequence are those of La Gravette and 

 Font-Robert, formerly grouped together as Upper Aurignacian, which 

 Peyrony has labelled Perigordian IV and V. This industry has clear 

 affinities with the Capsian, and in view of the possibility that the Lower 

 Capsian may be roughly contemporary with it, the question of African 

 influence must be re-examined at this point. For various reasons, 

 however, I think it must be ruled out. Already in the Lower Capsian 

 two very distinctive forms, the micro-burin and the microlithic lunate, 

 are present, and if this industry were the parent of the Gravette -Font- 

 Robert stage of Europe it would seem inevitable that these should occur 

 there also. In fact, however, they enter Western Europe only with the 

 Tardenoisian culture at a much later date. Again, if the Lower Capsian 

 passed into France it must have been through the Iberian Peninsula, and 

 we have seen that in that region Capsian influences appear only at the 

 close of the Upper Palaeolithic sequence. Finally, the Gravette-Font- 

 Robert industry has a very wide distribution in central and eastern 

 Europe, and its remarkable development in this region points rather 

 to a Eurasiatic origin. If further evidence were needed, one could cite 

 the complete absence in Little Africa of the very distinctive female 

 statuettes which are constantly associated with this culture in Europe. 

 It does not follow that there is no link between the Capsian and the 

 Gravette-Font-Robert industry ; I would suggest that both are derived 

 from the Chatelperronian, but that their common features are due in 

 part to convergent development, certain forms, such as the Gravette 

 point, being evolved almost necessarily from their Chatelperronian 

 prototpyes. 



I have suggested that an Eastern origin is indicated for the Gravette- 

 Font-Robert industry, and we must now examine this rather more 

 closely. In France the distinction between the Gravette level with its 

 typical blunted-back blades, and the overlying Font-Robert level with 

 tanged and shouldered points is quite clear, but the two are nevertheless 



