The Proto-Aurignacian and Early Aurignacian retouchers of Labeko Koba (Basque Country, Spain). A techno-economic and chrono-cultural interpretation using lithic and faunal data

The so-called bone retouchers have been the subjects of numerous studies examining them from different points of view and in various chronological and geographic contexts. However, the study of these tools has rarely been carried out in conjunction with data from lithic typology and technology studies and archaeozoological research, to understand the context in which retouchers were made and used. In this paper, we examined the technological and functional aspects of the retouchers recovered in the Proto-Aurignacian and the Early Aurignacian levels of Labeko Koba. Our study shows that the retouchers of these two techno-complexes of Labeko share several features but also some differences. The exploitation of bones in the Early Upper Palaeolithic EUP levels at Labeko Koba, represented mainly by the retouchers, cannot be regarded as complex. This behaviour is part of a technical tradition that has its roots in the Middle Palaeolithic.