A new approach to the important site of Abri Pataud in the Vézère valley, near Les Eyzies, Dordogne. This important site has a very rich Upper Palaeolithic sequence, beginning with Aurignacian deposits containing saucer-shaped living-hollows with central hearths. With particular reference to the digs of Hallam L. Movius (starting at the site in the 1950s), the author develops recent studies focussing on not just the tools found but also the totality of material discovered around the dig sites. His approach, already employed for two of the Périgordian levels, gives insights for the first time to technological issues raised by the assemblages from Abri Pataud.