Mousterian
The Mousterian (or Mode III) is a techno-complex (archaeological industry) of stone tools, associated primarily with the Neanderthals in Europe, and to a lesser extent 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 as early as c. 300,000–200,000 BP.[2] The main following period is the Aurignacian (c. 43,000–28,000 BP) of Homo sapiens.
Artistic impression of the head of a Homo neanderthalensis male, at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History | |
Geographical range | Africa and Eurasia |
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Period | Middle Paleolithic |
Dates | c. 160,000–40,000 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, Jebel Irhoud |
Preceded by | Acheulean, Micoquien, Clactonian |
Followed by | Châtelperronian, Emiran, Baradostian, Aterian |
Naming
The culture was named after the type site of Le Moustier, three superimposed rock shelters 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
The European Mousterian is the product of Neanderthals. It existed roughly from 160,000 to 40,000 BP.[6] 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.[7]
In North Africa and the Near East, Mousterian tools were produced by anatomically modern humans. In the Eastern Mediterranean, for example, assemblages produced by Neanderthals are indistinguishable from those made by Qafzeh type modern humans.[8] The Mousterian industry in North Africa is estimated to be 315,000 years old.[2]
Possible variants are Denticulate, Charentian (Ferrassie & Quina) named after the Charente region,[9] Typical, and the Mousterian Traditional Acheulian (MTA) Type-A and Type-B.[10] The industry continued alongside the new Châtelperronian industry during the 45,000-40,000 BP period.[11]
Locations
- Mousterian artifacts have been found in Haua Fteah in Cyrenaica and other sites in Northwest Africa.[12]
- Contained within a cave in the Syria region, along with a Neanderthaloid skeleton.[12]
- Located in the Haibak valley of Afghanistan.[12]
- Zagros and Central Iran
- The archaeological site of Atapuerca, Spain, contains Mousterian objects.
- Gorham's Cave in Gibraltar contains Mousterian objects.
- Uzbekistan has sites of Mousterian culture, including Teshik-Tash.[12]
- Turkmenistan also has Mousterian relics.[12]
- Siberia has many sites with Mousterian-style implements, e.g. Denisova Cave.[12]
- Israel is one of the places where remains of both Neandertals and Homo sapiens sapiens have been found in association with Mousterian artifacts.[13]
- Lynford Quarry near Mundford, Norfolk, England, has yielded Mousterian tools.
- The archaeological cave site of Azykh contains Mousterian relics in the overlying strata. In this cave ,a lower jaw of a hominid named Azykhantrop has been found. It is supposed that this finding belongs to a pre-neanderthal species.[14][15]
- Stone scrapers for cleaning and working leather, Mousterian Culture, Israel, 250,000-50,000 BP
- Le Moustier Neanderthal skull reconstitution, Neues Museum Berlin[16]
- Levallois points
- Mousterian Culture and Late Stone Age Stone Tools. Notch for sharpening wood, and denticulate for sawing wood and bone. Rosh En Mor and En Aqev. 250,000-22,000 BP. Israel
- Mousterian & Aurignacian Cultures, Stone Burins used for incising stone and wood, Qafzeh, Hayonim, el-Wad Cave, 250,000-22,000 BP Israel
- Mousterian Culture, stone spearheads, 250,000-50,000. Israel Museum
See also
The Paleolithic |
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↑ Pliocene (before Homo) |
|
Fertile Crescent:
Europe:
Siberia:
|
↓ Mesolithic |
- Neanderthal extinction hypotheses
- Levallois technique
References
- Callaway, Ewen (20 August 2014). "Neanderthals: Bone technique redrafts prehistory". Nature. 512 (7514): 242. doi:10.1038/512242a. ISSN 0028-0836. PMID 25143094.
From the Black Sea to the Atlantic coast of France, these [Mousterian] artefacts and Neanderthal remains disappear from European sites at roughly the same time, 39,000–41,000 years ago, Higham's team conclude. The data challenge arguments that Neanderthals endured in refuges in the southern Iberian Peninsula until as recently as 28,000 years ago
- Richter, Daniel; Grün, Rainer; Joannes-Boyau, Renaud; Steele, Teresa E.; Amani, Fethi; Rué, Mathieu; Fernandes, Paul; Raynal, Jean-Paul; Geraads, Denis (2017-06-07). "The age of the hominin fossils from Jebel Irhoud, Morocco, and the origins of the Middle Stone Age". Nature. 546 (7657): 293–296. doi:10.1038/nature22335. ISSN 0028-0836. PMID 28593967.
- Haviland, William A.; Prins, Harald E. L.; Walrath, Dana; McBride, Bunny (24 February 2009). The Essence of Anthropology. Cengage Learning. p. 87. ISBN 978-0-495-59981-4. Retrieved 23 November 2011.
- Aldenderfer, Mark; Andrea, Alfred J.; McGeough, Kevin; Mierse, William E.; Neel, Carolyn (29 April 2010). World History Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. p. 330. ISBN 978-1-85109-929-0. Retrieved 23 November 2011.
- Bekker, Henk (23 October 2017). "Neues Museum in Berlin 1175".
- Shaw, Ian; Jameson, Robert, eds. (1999). A Dictionary of Archaeology. Blackwell. p. 408. ISBN 0-631-17423-0. Retrieved 1 August 2016. "the classic Mousterian can be identified after perhaps 160,000 BP and lasts until c. 40,000 BP in Europe."
- Dibble, Harold L.; McPherron, Shannon P. (October 2006). "The Missing Mousterian". Current Anthropology. 47 (5): 777–803. doi:10.1086/506282.
- Shea, J. J., 2003: Neandertals [sic], competition and the origin of modern human behaviour in the Levant, Evolutionary Anthropology, 12:173-187.
- Lock, Andrew; Peters, Charles R. (1999). Handbook of Human Symbolic Evolution. "Oxford Science Publications" series. Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 0-631-21690-1. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
- "Mousterian Industries". Stone Age Reference Collection. Institutt for Arkeologi, Kunsthistorie og Konservering, University of Oslo. 2011. Archived from the original on 30 January 2012. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
- Higham, Tom; Douka, Katerina; Wood, Rachel; Ramsey, Christopher Bronk; Brock, Fiona; Basell, Laura; Camps, Marta; Arrizabalaga, Alvaro; Baena, Javier; Barroso-Ruíz, Cecillio; Bergman, Christopher; Boitard, Coralie; Boscato, Paolo; Caparrós, Miguel; Conard, Nicholas J.; Draily, Christelle; Froment, Alain; Galván, Bertila; Gambassini, Paolo; Garcia-Moreno, Alejandro; Grimaldi, Stefano; Haesaerts, Paul; Holt, Brigitte; Iriarte-Chiapusso, Maria-Jose; Jelinek, Arthur; Jordá Pardo, Jesús F.; Maíllo-Fernández, José-Manuel; Marom, Anat; Maroto, Julià; et al. (2014). "The timing and spatiotemporal patterning of Neanderthal disappearance". Nature. 512 (7514): 306–309. Bibcode:2014Natur.512..306H. doi:10.1038/nature13621. PMID 25143113.
- Langer, William L., ed. (1972). An Encyclopedia of World History (5th ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. pp. 9. ISBN 0-395-13592-3.
- Levy, T., ed. (2001). The Archaeology of Society in the Holy Land. London: Leicester University Press.
- Lan Shaw, Robert Jameson, ed. (2008). A Dictionary of Archaeology. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 9780470751961.
- Dolukhanov, Pavel (2004). The Early Slavs: Eastern Europe from the Initial Settlement to the Kievan Rus. Routledge. ISBN 9781317892229.
- Bekker, Henk (23 October 2017). "Neues Museum in Berlin 1175".
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mousterian. |
- "Neanderthals' Last Stand Is Traced". The New York Times. 13 September 2006.
Preceded by Micoquien |
Mousterian 600,000—40,000 BP |
Succeeded by Châtelperronian |