Carved stones are the main and most abundant evidence of prehistory. Over the last few decades, their "reading" has been considerably enriched. This is an opportunity to address the following issues: the development of intelligence as the main indicator of humanisation, the notion of tradition and material culture in relation to social practices, and the emergence of specialised craftsmen as part of the increasing complexity of human communities at the dawn of history.
Jacques Pelegrin, Emeritus Director of Research at the CNRS and lecturer at the University of Paris Nanterre, a prehistorian specialising in lithic technology, takes us through the various themes addressed in this dossier in greater detail.
This presentation is taken from a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) broadcast on the FUN (France Université Numérique) platform three times, from 2019 to 2021. In order to perpetuate it, it has been reassembled into a continuous presentation, accessible on this digital portal of the Ministry of Culture. It is available in French, English, Spanish and Portuguese.
This MOOC was produced by the COMUE Université Paris Lumières (UPL) and carried out by the Maison des Sciences de l'Homme Mondes (formerly Maison Archéologie Ethnologie), in partnership with the University of Paris Nanterre, the UMR 7055 Pretech (now UMR TEMPS), the labex "Les passés dans le présent" (The Past in the Present), and the Musée d'Archéologie nationale.