Azilian
The Azilian is a name given by archaeologists to an industry of the terminal Palaeolithic and early Mesolithic in northern Spain and south western France.
It probably dates to the period of the Allerød Oscillation around 10,000 years ago and followed the rich Magdelanian culture. Archaeologists think the Azilian represents the tail end of the Magdelanian as the warming climate brought about changes in human behaviour in the area. The effects of melting ice sheets would have diminished the food supply and probably impoverished the previously well-fed Magdelanian manufacturers. As a result, Azalian tools and art were cruder and less expansive than their Ice Age predecessors.
Diagnostic artefacts from the culture include crude flat bone harpoons and pebbles with abstract decoration. The latter were first found in the River Arise at the type-site for the culture, Mas d'Azil in the French Pyrenees. The use of microliths is also a sign of the difference from the Magdelanian.
The Azilian would have co-existed with similar early Mesolithic European cultures such as the Sauveterrian, the Tardenoisian, the Maglemosian, the Ertebølle, and the Asturian.
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