Culture · Upper Palaeolithic
Solutrean
22000–17000 BCE, Europe — Western & Central
The Solutrean is a short-lived Upper Palaeolithic culture of France and Iberia during the coldest part of the last glaciation, about 22,000 to 17,000 years ago. It is celebrated for bifacial laurel-leaf and willow-leaf points and shouldered points made by pressure flaking and heat treatment, techniques not seen again in Europe for millennia. Collectors hold laurel leaves, shouldered points and the small unifacial points of the earliest phase, though the great pieces from Volgu and Laugerie-Haute are in French museums.
| Dates | 22000–17000 BCE |
|---|---|
| Period | Upper Palaeolithic |
| Region | Europe — Western & Central |
| Areas | France, Iberia |
| Typical objects | Biface, Projectile point |
| Typical materials | Flint |
Identification
Laurel-leaf points are thin, symmetrical and bifacially worked with parallel pressure flakes, sometimes so large and delicate that they must have been ceremonial. Shouldered points have an asymmetric tang, and the Iberian variant includes concave-base and winged points. Heat-treated flint with a waxy lustre is common. Bone needles with eyes first appear here.
Legality
Solutrean sites are state-protected in France and Spain and their contents are state property; legitimate private material is limited to nineteenth- and early twentieth-century collections with documentation. Pieces are sometimes falsely provenanced to Britain, where there is no Solutrean.
Reproductions and fakes
The Solutrean laurel leaf is one of the most reproduced Palaeolithic objects, and many modern knappers can equal the originals; the difference lies in patina, edge condition and the presence of ancient sediment in flake scars. Modern pressure flaking often uses copper tips that leave distinctive small initiations. Provenance is the only reliable test.
Elsewhere
- Wikidata: Q1121344
- Wikipedia: Solutrean
Cite this article
Stratum Strata. "Solutrean" (Culture). Stratum Strata pack 2026.09, as of 2026-09-21. https://stratum.black/strata/cultures/solutrean. Accessed 2026-09-21.
@misc{stratum-solutrean,
title = {Solutrean},
author = {{Stratum Strata}},
howpublished = {\url{https://stratum.black/strata/cultures/solutrean}},
year = {2026},
note = {Culture article, Stratum Strata pack 2026.09, as of 2026-09-21; sources: stratum, wikidata, commons. Accessed 2026-09-21.}
} Citations carry the pack version and the article's as-of date so they resolve to the same text later. The facts themselves belong to the sources listed below; cite those for the science.