Hunter's paleogeography of Europe during the upper paleolithic: Site repartition and specialisation

During the Upper Paleolithic, Europe was occupied by human populations mainly living from hunting of big terrestrial mammals. A repartition of fauna and of archeological sites was done with a database: a repartition of Upper Paleolithic sites in central and western Europe. This study shows that the european space was structured following several factors; climate, environment, cynegetic behaviours... We observe a partition of Europe with a mediterranean area with mainly deer, and ibex and an atlantic area with reindeer. Equally, most of the occupations are localized in the aquitano-cantabric horn around the Gulf of Gascony. The occupation of Europe undergone a pulsation with a retreat of occupations toward the west and the south during the glacial maximum, then a colonization of North Europe during the Tardiglacial climatic amelioration. (C) 2008 Elsevier Masson SAS. Tons droits reserves.