late pleistocene population interaction in western europe

of culturally diagnostic marks due to some overlap in notch morphology between humans
and carnivores (Binford 1981). Some differences in percussion notch measurements
recorded in experimental context between humans and hyenas are said to be
discriminating in this regard (Capaldo and Blumenschine 1994). It remains to be shown,
however, whether the statistical differences noted by these authors can be extended to
include the robust hyena of the European Paleolithic (Ballesio 1979; Brugal et al. 1997;
Fosse 1997). Nonetheless, because percussion marks are rarely associated with gnaw
marks at Saint-Césaire, a single case being documented, it is suggested that most
percussion marks were made by humans. Therefore, these are presented along with other
anthropic marks in Table 32 with the above reservations.
Figure 29. Long bone shaft fragments with percusion notches from Saint-Césaire. Above is
shown a percussion flake refitted with a UNG 3-4 shaft fragment. The lowermost specimen,
probably from a reindeer, shows two overlapping percussion flakes still attached to a shaft
fragment.
In comparison, retouchers are not as abundant (Table 32). As described in the
previous chapter, retouchers are specimens with zones of linear marks that are distributed
more or less perpendicular to the specimen axis. Importantly, these marks are found only
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