Mousterian
European Middle Paleolithic culture
The Mousterian (or Mode III) is an archaeological industry of stone tools, associated primarily with the Neanderthals in Europe and with the earliest anatomically modern humans in North Africa and West Asia. The Mousterian largely defines the latter part of the Middle Paleolithic, the middle of the West Eurasian Old Stone Age. It lasted roughly from 160,000 to 40,000 BP. If its predecessor (known as Levallois or Levallois–Mousterian) is included, the range is extended to include as early as c. 300,000–200,000 BP. The main following period is the Aurignacian (c. 43,000–28,000 BP) of Homo sapiens.
Naming
The culture was named after the type site of Le Moustier, three superimposed rock shelters in the Dordogne region of France. A style of knapping has been found all over unglaciated Europe as well as West Asia and North Africa. Hand axes, racloirs, and points constitute the industry; sometimes a Levallois technique or another prepared-core technique was employed in making flint and chert flakes.
Characteristics
The European Mousterian is the product of Neanderthals. It existed roughly from 160,000 to 40,000 BP. 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 Neanderthals.
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This entry incorporates text from “Mousterian” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.