This volume contains the proceedings of the 15th World Congress of the International Union for Prehistoric and Protohistoric Sciences. The theme of the conference was subsistence strategies in the Palaeolithic, and an attempt was made to integrate lithic studies, zooarchaeology and archaeobotany to produce a more interdisciplinary approach. Essays range from site-specific reports to more general discussions, with a focus on the environmental factors which influenced human behaviour. Essays mostly in French with a few in English.

This volume publishes the contributions to a research project involving 37 authors to examine the evolution of the idea of the precious stone looking at the role of objects considered to have aesthetic value in a wide range of cultures and time periods although focusing on the emergence of the concept in the palaeolithic. French text.

Focusing on an area of the Middle Rhone valley between the districts of Drome and the Ardeche, this study looks at lithic assemblages from twelve sites dating to the early Upper Pleistocene, looking at the cave site of Payre in particular detail, Moncel analyses the procurement, debitage and production of lithics, alongside faunal evidence, to discern the mobility, occupation and subsistence patterns of the population. Her findings provide the first real framework for human occupation of this area of France, demonstrating the presence of mobile groups, exploiting local raw materials and animals, occupying sites for short, often seasonal periods. French text.