Mousterian

Mousterian
Geographical distribution of Mousterian sites
Geographical range Afro-Eurasia
Period Middle Paleolithic
Dates 600,000 – 40,000 BP[1]
Type site Le Moustier
Major sites Creswell Crags, Lynford Quarry, Arcy-sur-Cure, Vindija Cave, Atapuerca Mountains, Zafarraya, Gorham's Cave, Devil's Tower, Haua Fteah
Preceded by Micoquien, Clactonian
Followed by Châtelperronian, Emireh culture, Aterian
The Paleolithic

Pliocene (before Homo)

Lower Paleolithic
(c. 3.3 Ma – 300 ka)

Middle Paleolithic
(300–45 ka)

Upper Paleolithic
(50–10 ka)

Mesolithic
Stone Age
mtDNA-based simulation of the species Homo sapiens in Europe starting 1600 generations ago. Homo neanderthalensis range in light grey.[2]

Mousterian is a name given by archaeologists to a style of predominantly flint tools (or industry) associated primarily with Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis). They date to the Middle Paleolithic, the middle part of the European Old Stone Age.

Naming

The culture was named after the type site of Le Moustier, a rock shelter in the Dordogne region of France.[3] Similar flintwork has been found all over unglaciated Europe and also the Near East and North Africa. Handaxes, racloirs and points constitute the industry; sometimes a Levallois technique or another prepared-core technique was employed in making the flint flakes.[4]

Characteristics

Mousterian tools that have been found in Europe were made by Neanderthals and date from around 160,000 BP and 40,000 BP.[5] Some assemblages, namely those from Pech de l’Aze, include exceptionally small points prepared using the Levallois technique among other prepared core types, causing some researchers to suggest that these flakes take advantage of greater grip strength possessed by Neanderthal physiology.[6] In North Africa and the Near East, Mouseterian tools were also produced by anatomically modern humans. In the Levant, for example, assemblages produced by Neanderthals are indistinguishable from those made by Qafzeh type modern humans.[7] It may be an example of acculturation of modern humans by Neanderthals because the culture after 130,000 years reached the Levant from Europe (the first Mousterian industry appears there 200,000 BP) and the modern Qafzeh type humans appear in the Levant another 100,000 years later.

Possible variants are Denticulate, Charentian (Ferrassie & Quina) named after the Charente region,[8] Typical and the Acheulean Tradition (MTA) - Type-A and Type-B.[9] The industry continued alongside the new Châtelperronian industry during the 45,000-40,000 BP period.[10]

Locations

See also

References

  1. Neanderthals: Bone technique redrafts prehistory : Nature News & Comment
  2. Currat, Mathias; Excoffier, Laurent (2004). "Modern Humans Did Not Admix with Neanderthals during Their Range Expansion into Europe". PLoS Biology. 2 (12): e421. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0020421. PMC 532389Freely accessible. PMID 15562317.
  3. William A. Haviland; Harald E. L. Prins; Dana Walrath; Bunny McBride (24 February 2009). The Essence of Anthropology. Cengage Learning. p. 87. ISBN 978-0-495-59981-4. Retrieved 23 November 2011.
  4. Mark Aldenderfer; Alfred J. Andrea; Kevin McGeough; William E. Mierse; Carolyn Neel (29 April 2010). World History Encyclopedia. Abc-Clio. p. 330. ISBN 978-1-85109-929-0. Retrieved 23 November 2011.
  5. Shaw, Ian; Jameson, Robert, eds. (1999). A Dictionary of Archaeology. Blackwell. p. 408. ISBN 0-631-17423-0. Retrieved 1 August 2016.
  6. Dibble, Harold L.; McPherron, Shannon P. (October 2006). "The Missing Mousterian". Current Anthropology. 47 (5): 777–803. doi:10.1086/506282.
  7. Shea, J. J., 2003: Neandertals [sic], competition and the origin of modern human behaviour in the Levant, Evolutionary Anthropology, 12:173-187.
  8. Andrew Lock, Charles R. Peters - Handbook of human symbolic evolution - 906 pages Oxford science publications Wiley-Blackwell, 1999 ISBN 0-631-21690-1 RETRIEVED 2012-01-06
  9. University of Oslo P.O. Box 1072 - Blindern-0316 Oslo-Norway email : fa-admin@admin.uio.no. / international@mn.uio.no - Universitetet i Oslo. Retrieved 2012-01-06
  10. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v512/n7514/full/nature13621.html
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Langer, William L., ed. (1972). An Encyclopedia of World History (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company. p. 9. ISBN 0-395-13592-3.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mousterian.
Preceded by
Micoquien
Mousterian
600,000 years before present — 40,000 years before present
Succeeded by
Châtelperronian
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