Le debitage sur eclat dans la Mediterranee occidentale durant le Paleolithique moyen: Abric Romani (Capellades, Espagne) et Ifri n’Ammar (Rif oriental, Maroc)

The purpose of this research is to investigate the débitage Kombewa, discovered from 1938 in East Africa, and subsequently defined as a flaking method of the predetermined flake from the ventral surface of the flaked-flake. However, the same type of product could be obtained by the knapping of a bifacial piece, preparing a striking platform on the ventral side or by recycling an ancient flake. \nThe Kombewa is better known in the Lower Palaeolithic, but it remains insufficiently characterized during the Middle Palaeolithic, and many aspects such as its status and the aim of its production are not fully explored. \nThe objective of this work is to determine the technological context of the Kombewa knapping and to record its behavioural significance during the Middle Palaeolithic. Thus, we propose four hypotheses about the reality of this débitage : a knapping method carefully planned and seeking to produce pre-determined blank, a technical process opportunistic to exploit maximum of the raw material, a technical solution during the knapping to solve immediate requirements, and finally to suggest the Kombewa as waste of the façonnage. \nThe assemblages analyzed here belong to two palaeolithic sites in the western Mediterranean, each one is located about 50 km from the Mediterranean coast, comprising of the Abric Romani site (Capellades, Spain) and the Ifri n'Ammar Cave (eastern Rif, Morocco). These two sites differ among themselves in terms of geographical (Europe and North Africa), cultural (Mousterian in Europe and Mousterian/Aterian in Maghreb) and biological (Archaic Homo sapiens and Neanderthals) aspects. However, several exchanges and influences were observed between the two continents at various periods of prehistory. \nThe synthesis which occurred in the western Mediterranean during the Middle Palaeolithic has revealed the variability of Kombewa production carried out at both sites. The correlation of results with the data of literatures indicates that the « flaked flake » is presented as conception of knapping similar to the methods (Levallois, discoid, laminar ...) or as a secondary operating applicable in several technical contexts (Levallois, discoid, laminar ... etc.), which seeks to exploit the raw material a more rational way. \nThe experiments carried out on the Kombewa flakes showed no specific features or specific uses to them.