Some 17,000 years ago, an evolutionary shift occurred in the production of tools and weapons with respect to previous cultures such as the Solutrean and Badegoulian.
A hunter's equipment basically consisted of sagaie points and flint spear tips. The production techniques (flint knapping) attest to striking changes vis-à-vis the Solutrean (thermal treatment, pressure flaking, etc.) In the symbolic realm there were new developments as well. The materials used changed, and there were new themes and shapes.
Throughout the six thousand years of the Magdalenian, however, there were shifts in production. The harpoon appeared about 12,000 years BP, near the end of the period.
In the Middle Magdalenian, the period of the four sculpted shelters, domestic equipment consisted of burins, scrapers and awls. Hunting equipment consisted mainly of single-bevel sagaie points associated with small flint spear tips. The symbolic realm was marked by a strong realistic trend in depictions of animals, with pride of place given to representations of bison, and the appearance of new elements (perforated discs, contours découpés, stomach beads, etc.).