Designating or belonging to a Middle Paleolithic culture following the Acheulian, associated with Neanderthals and characterized by the use of flake tools.
[French moustérien, after Le Moustier, a cave in southwest France.]
Mousterian
Dictionary:
Mous·te·ri·an (mū-stîr'ē-ən)  |
adj.
Designating or belonging to a Middle Paleolithic culture following the Acheulian, associated with Neanderthals and characterized by the use of flake tools.
Designating or belonging to a Middle Paleolithic culture following the Acheulian, associated with Neanderthals and characterized by the use of flake tools.
| 5min Related Video: Mousterian |
| Archaeology Dictionary: Mousterian |
[CP]
A Middle Palaeolithic stoneworking industry associated with Neanderthal communities. Named after the type-site of Le Moustier in the Dordogne Valley, France, Mousterian industries are found over most of the unglaciated parts of Eurasia as well as the Near East and Africa, dating to the period c.200 000 to 30 000 years ago. Stone tools of the tradition include triangular points made on flakes, racloirs, triangular bifacial handaxes, and burins and awls made on blades. The Levallois technique of working flint was extensively used. Several variations of the Mousterian have been recognized: the Mousterian of Acheulian Tradition (MAT) named by François Bordes and relating to southwest France, the earlier elements of which (type A assemblages) are dominated by handaxes, backed knives, denticulates, and scrapers, while the later elements (type B assemblages) have fewer handaxes but a higher proportion of burins and awls; the Charentian with an abundance of side scrapers; and a central European variant with leaf-shaped points.
| Wikipedia: Mousterian |
| Stone Age Historical Epoch |
|---|
|
↑ before Homo (Pliocene) |
| ↓ Bronze Age |
Mousterian is a name given by archaeologists to a style of predominantly flint tools (or industry) associated primarily with Homo neanderthalensis and dating to the Middle Paleolithic, the middle part of the Old Stone Age. It was named after the type site of Le Moustier, a rock shelter in the Dordogne region of France.[1] 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.
.JPG)
Mousterian tools that have been found in Europe were made by Neanderthals and date from between 300,000 BP and 30,000 BP (from Layer 2A dated 330 ± 5 ka, (OIS) 9 at Pradayrol, France)[2]. In Northern Africa and the Near East they were also produced by anatomically modern humans. In the Levant for example, assemblages produced by Neanderthals are indistinguishable from those produced by Qafzeh type modern humans.[3]It may be an example of acculturation of modern humans by Neanderthals because the culture after 130,000 years reaching the Levant from Europe (the first Mousterian industry appears there 200,000) and the modern Qafzeh type humans appear in the Levant another 100,000 years later .
It was superseded by the Châtelperronian industry around 35,000-29,000 BP.[citation needed]
Several Mousterian variants are known:
- Denticulate Mousterian
- Ferrassie Mousterian
- Mousterian of Acheulean Tradition (MTA)
- Quina Mousterian
- Typical Mousterian
See also
References
- ^ http://anthropology.si.edu/humanorigins/ha/lemoust.htm The importance of the cave site of Le Moustier lies not in the partial skeleton located there, but in the tool assemblage recovered, which gives the name to the "Mousterian" tool tradition.
- ^ Skinner et al., ʺNew ESR Dates for a New Bone‐Bearing Layer at Pradayrol, Lot, Franceʺ 2007
- ^ Shea, J. J., 2003: Neandertals [sic], competition and the origin of modern human behaviour in the Levant, Evolutionary Anthropology, 12:173-187.
External links
- Mousterian Neanderthal Stone Tools
- geocities.com — The Neanderthal Sites at Veldwezelt-Hezerwater, Belgium
- Neanderthals’ Last Stand Is Traced — New York Times article (Published: September 13, 2006)7
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
Learn More
 | MAT (in archaeology) |
| racloir (in archaeology) |
| bout coupé (in archaeology) |
Help us answer these
 | What distinguishes the Mousterian from other tool-making industries? |
| What early human species used Mousterian traditon? |
| The Mousterian technology was used by which hominid species? |
Post a question - any question - to the WikiAnswers community:
Copyrights:
 |
 | Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more |
 |
| Archaeology Dictionary. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology. Copyright © 2002, 2003 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. Read more |
 |
| Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Mousterian". Read more |
ADVERTISEMENT
Answer these
- The Mousterian technology was used by which hominid species?
- Where and when did the Mousterian tool industry originate?
Mentioned in
- MAT (in archaeology)
- racloir (in archaeology)
- bout coupé (in archaeology)
- foliated points (in archaeology)
- cordate (in archaeology)
- type site
- Aurignacian (Old World Upper Paleolithic culture)
- denticulate (in archaeology)
- Châtelperronian (in archaeology)
- Year 150,000 bce (in Science & Technology)
- Teshik-Tash (in archaeology)
- Le Moustier (in archaeology)
- Charentian (in archaeology)
- Ipswichian Stage (in archaeology)
