What was home and family like in Paleolithic Europe? How did mobile hunter-gatherer families live, work, and play together in the fourteenth millennium BP? What were the functional and spatial constraints and markers of their domesticity-the processes that create and sustain a household?Despite the long recognized absence of comprehensive archaeological data on such ancient homes and hearths, the archaeologists in this volume begin unraveling the domesticity of the Upper Paleolithic by drawing on both an immense trove of new material evidence and comparative site data, and a range of incisive and illuminating ethnographic analogies, theoretical models, and simulations. Five Late Magdalenian sites from the Paris Basin and one later Azilian site provide striking evidence of well preserved camps of short duration, situated on valley bottoms and buried by gentle floods. Of particular interest and value is the site of Verberie, rich in lithic tools, faunal remains, hearts, and other indicators of spatial organization, which has been excavated continuously for twenty-six years by the same director and provides an unparalleled source of information on Paleolithic domesticity. The first group of essays and reports look at the technology and demographic evidences of domesticity; the second set seeks clues to the spatial patterning of Paleolithic households; while the final essays draw on ethnographic analogies to reconstruct and interpret gendered divisions of labor, perishable technologies, and other activities not directly recognizable from archaeological remains.

Prefacing the Household Introduction: Domesticity Expressed Ezra Zubrow, Françoise Audouze, and James G. Enloe Part I. Technology and Demography 1. Technology and Demographics: An Introduction James G. Enloe 2. The Magdalenian Site of Verberie(Le Buisson Campin): An Overview James G. Enloe and Françoise Audouze 3. Fauna and Site Structure at Verberie: Implications for Domesticity and Demography James G. Enloe 4. Technologie Lithique à Verberie: Production Domestique et Apprentissage Frédéric Janny 5. Utilisation et Transformation des Matières Osseuses au Buisson Campin (Verberie, Oise) Aline Averbouh 6. Pincevent and Verberie Rocks and Hearths: A Tentative Summary/Preliminary Analysis Utilisation et Transformation des Matières Osseuses au Buisson Campin (Verberie, Oise) Gaëlle Dumarçay and Madeleine Caron (+) Part II. Social Organization 7. Introduction to Domesticity and Spatial Organization Ezra Zubrow, Françoise Audouze, and James G. Enloe 8. Archaeology of Equality: Magdalenian Economy Ezra Zubrow 9. GIS of Verberie: Spatial Defi nition of the Habitation Units Dustin Keeler 10. Domesticity and Spatial Organization at Verberie Françoise Audouze 11. Espaces et Habitats au Tardiglaciaire dans le Bassin Parisien: Une Illustration avec les Gisements Magdalenien de Pincevent et Azilien du Closeau Pierre Bodu 12. Éléments d'une Organisation Sociale Magdalénienne àÉtiolles Du Savoir-faire au Statut Social des Personnes Nicole Pigeot 13. Comparing Social Organizations of Magdalenian Hunter-Gatherers: A Swiss Example Marie-Isabelle Cattin Part III. From Today to Yesterday: Ethnographic Comparisons 14. Introduction to the Ethnographic Section: Focusing on Interpreting the Magdalenian Sites of the Paris Basin Françoise Audouze 15. The Probable Sexual Division of Labor in Magdalenian Hide Working: Ethnological Evidence Lawrence H. Keeley 16. The Roles of Perishable Technologies in Upper Paleolithic Lives Olga Soffer and James M. Adovasio 17. Slaughter and Carcass Processing of Reindeer in Siberia: Patterns and Distribution of Tasks-Comparisons Between Prehistoric and Ethnoarchaeological Cases Francine David, Claudine Karlin, and Vladimir D'lachenko 18. Méthode de Reconstitution des Procédés de Traitement des Peaux en Préhistoire: Premières Applications Archéologiques Sylvie Beyries et Veerle Rots Conclusion: Domesticity Re-expressed James G. Enloe, Françoise Audouze, and Ezra Zubrow English-French Index