ABSTRACT
The variability in the Palaeolithic assemblages of Western Europe feeds current debates about their relationship with population flows in a context of environmental and palaeogeographic changes. The technical Colombanian facies, located in the South Atlantic coast of Brittany, illustrates this variability. The Lower Palaeolithic in the Armorican Massif consists of two different groups, which are Acheulean sensu stricto on one side, and 'archaic' lithic industries characterised by cobble tools on the other side. The composition of the lithic industry is exactly the same as in layer 6'; however some interesting features appear, such as the presence of a pseudo-Levallois flake and several bifacial tools. The Colombanian proves to be a regional facies where all the sites are sheltered in corridors of marine erosion, along the current shoreline, but from a typological point of view there are no clear differences with the Acheulean in the region.
