Une production de grandes lames par pression à la fin du Néolithique dans le nord de la Sardaigne (Contraguda, Perfugas)

During the excavation at Contraguda (Perfugas) in Northern Sardinia, a long blade workshop was found; it probably dates from the Late Neolithic/Chalcolithic (late 4th- 3rd millennium cal. ВС). The aim of this paper is to describe the different stages of this blade production in order to evaluate its position in the economic system of Mediterranean Late Neolithic communities. Based on the study of several thousand flint remains, this work allows us to propose a reconstruction of this blade production in seven stages: raw material supply near the site; selection of the nodules and core roughing out; transport of these pre-shaped blanks to the site; first blade flaking by indirect percussion; production of the long blades by pressure with a lever fitted with a copper point; production of other blanks (short blades and flakes) for common tools used on the site; abandoning of small cores. Some similarities could be established between this production and others from the South of France (Haute-Provence), especially the use of a lever fitted with a copper point. These long blades were not used on the site but were produced to be exported and only a few fragments, probably broken during production, were found on the site. This fact and the high technological level of this blade production testify to the importance of the production of prestige items at the end of the Neolithic period, which occurs in different parts of Europe.