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{{Short description|European Middle Paleolithic culture}}{{Clarify radiocarbon calibration|date=August 2018}}

factoids

 160,000–40,000 Before Present>BPNEANDERTHALS: BONE TECHNIQUE REDRAFTS PREHISTORY >FIRST=EWEN DATE=20 AUGUST 2014 NATURE (JOURNAL)>NATURE ISSUE=7514 DOI=10.1038/512242A ISSN=0028-0836 DOI-ACCESS=FREE, 2014Natur.512..242C, |typesite =Le MoustierCreswell Crags, Lynford Quarry, Caves of Arcy-sur-Cure>Arcy-sur-Cure, Vindija Cave, Atapuerca Mountains, Zafarraya, Gorham's Cave, Devil's Tower, Haua Fteah, Jebel Irhoud|extra =|precededby =Acheulean, Micoquien, Clactonian|followedby =Châtelperronian, Emiran, Baradostian, Aterian, Mal'ta–Buret' culture?}}The Mousterian (or Mode III) is an archaeological industry of stone tools, associated primarily with the Neanderthals in Europe, and to 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 {{circa}} 300,000–200,000 BP.JOURNAL, 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 (journal), Nature, 546, 7657, 293–296, 10.1038/nature22335, 28593967, 0028-0836, 2017Natur.546..293R, 205255853, 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.BOOK, William A., Haviland, Harald E. L., Prins, Dana, Walrath, Bunny, McBride, The Essence of Anthropology, 24 February 2009, Cengage Learning, 978-0-495-59981-4, 87,weblink 23 November 2011, 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.BOOK, Mark, Aldenderfer, Alfred J., Andrea, Kevin, McGeough, William E., Mierse, Carolyn, Neel, World History Encyclopedia, 29 April 2010, ABC-CLIO, 978-1-85109-929-0, 330,weblink 23 November 2011,

Characteristics

{{multiple image }}File:Production of points & spearheads from a flint stone core, Levallois technique, Mousterian Culture, Tabun Cave, 250,000-50,000 BP (detail).jpg|thumb|260px|Production of points & spearheads from a flint stone core, Levallois technique, Mousterian culture, Tabun Cave, Israel, 250,000–50,000 BP. Israel MuseumIsrael MuseumFile:Raqefet entrance.jpg|thumb|260px|Cave entrance of Raqefet CaveRaqefet CaveThe European Mousterian is the product of Neanderthals. It existed roughly from 160,000 to 40,000 BP.BOOK, Shaw, Ian, Jameson, Robert, A Dictionary of Archaeology, 1999, Blackwell, 0-631-17423-0, 408,weblink 1 August 2016, "the classic Mousterian can be identified after perhaps 160,000 BP and lasts until c. 40,000 BP in Europe." 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.JOURNAL, Dibble, Harold L., McPherron, Shannon P., The Missing Mousterian, Current Anthropology, October 2006, 47, 5, 777–803, 10.1086/506282, 145362900, 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.JOURNAL, Shea, J. J., 2003, Neandertals [sic], competition and the origin of modern human behaviour in the Levant, Evolutionary Anthropology, 12, 173–187, 10.1002/evan.10101, 86608040, The Mousterian industry in North Africa is estimated to be 315,000 years old.Possible variants are Denticulate, Charentian (Ferrassie & Quina) named after the Charente region,BOOK, Andrew, Lock, Charles R., Peters, Handbook of Human Symbolic Evolution, "Oxford Science Publications" series,weblink Wiley-Blackwell, 1999, 0-631-21690-1, 6 January 2012, {{page needed|date=November 2019}} Typical, and the Mousterian Traditional Acheulian (MTA) Type-A and Type-B.WEB, Mousterian Industries, Stone Age Reference Collection, Institutt for Arkeologi, Kunsthistorie og Konservering, University of Oslo, 2011,weblinkweblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20120130060433weblink">weblink 30 January 2012, dead, 6 January 2012, The industry continued alongside the new Châtelperronian industry during the 45,000–40,000 BP period.JOURNAL, 10.1038/nature13621, 25143113, The timing and spatiotemporal patterning of Neanderthal disappearance, Nature, 512, 7514, 306–309, 2014, Higham, Tom, Thomas Higham (archaeologist), 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, Menéndez, Mario, 29, 2014Natur.512..306H, 205239973, 1885/75138, free,

Locations

• Mousterian artifacts have been found in Haua Fteah in Cyrenaica and other sites in Northwest Africa.BOOK, An Encyclopedia of World History, Langer, William L., 5th, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 1972, 0-395-13592-3, 9,weblink
• Contained within a cave in the Syria region, along with a Neanderthaloid skeleton.
• Located in the Haibak valley of Afghanistan.
• Zagros and Central Iran
• In the Iberian Peninsula Mousterian stone tools (Mode 3) have been found in the Middle and Upper Pleistocene caves and in open-air sites of the main valleys.{{sfnp|Marcos Saiz|2006|pp=225–270}}BOOK, Marcos Saiz, F. Javier, La Sierra de Atapuerca y el Valle del Arlanzón. Patrones de asentamiento prehistóricos, 2006, Editorial Dossoles. Burgos, Spain, 9788496606289,weblink The archaeo-palaeontological records in the Sierra de Atapuerca caves (Burgos, Spain) from Middle Paleolithic (i.e., Galería de las Estatuas y Cueva Fantasma sites) have provided Mousterian stone tools associated with Homo neanderthalensis.{{sfnp|Marcos Saiz|2006|pp=225–270}}
• Gorham's Cave in Gibraltar contains Mousterian objects.
• Uzbekistan has sites of Mousterian culture, including Teshik-Tash.
• Turkmenistan also has Mousterian relics.
• Siberia has many sites with Mousterian-style implements, e.g. Denisova Cave.
• Israel is one of the places where remains of both Neandertals and Homo sapiens sapiens have been found in association with Mousterian artifacts.BOOK, Levy, T., 2001, The Archaeology of Society in the Holy Land, London, Leicester University Press, {{page needed|date=November 2019}}
• 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.BOOK, A Dictionary of Archaeology, John Wiley & Sons, 2008, 9780470751961, Lan Shaw, Robert Jameson, {{page needed|date=November 2019}}BOOK, The Early Slavs: Eastern Europe from the Initial Settlement to the Kievan Rus, Dolukhanov, Pavel, Routledge, 2004, 9781317892229, {{page needed|date=November 2019}}
• The most important sites with significant Neanderthal and Mousterian finds in Croatia are Krapina, Vindija, Velika pećina and Veternica, located in the north-western part of Croatia and the region of Hrvatsko zagorje.JOURNAL, Karavanić, Ivor, Vukosavljević, Nikola, Janković, Ivor, Ahern, James C.M., Smith, Fred H., November 2018, Paleolithic hominins and settlement in Croatia from MIS 6 to MIS 3: Research history and current interpretations, Quaternary International, en, 494, 152–166, 10.1016/j.quaint.2017.09.034, 2018QuInt.494..152K, 134269685, WEB, Paleolithic hominins and settlement in Croatia from MIS 6 to MIS 3: Research history and current interpretations,weblink ResearchGate, JOURNAL, Simek, Jan F., Smith, Fred H., 1997-06-01, Chronological changes in stone tool assemblages from Krapina (Croatia),weblink Journal of Human Evolution, en, 32, 6, 561–575, 10.1006/jhev.1996.0129, 9210018, 0047-2484, JOURNAL, Ahern, James C. M, Karavanić, Ivor, Paunović, Maja, Janković, Ivor, Smith, Fred H, 2004-01-01, New discoveries and interpretations of hominid fossils and artifacts from Vindija Cave, Croatia,weblink Journal of Human Evolution, en, 46, 1, 27–67, 10.1016/j.jhevol.2003.09.010, 14698684, 0047-2484, WEB, The Mousterian industry of Veternica Cave,weblink ResearchGate, Mousterian industry sites on Istrian peninsula are Romualdova pećina and an open-air site at Campanož.BOOK, Harvati, Katerina,weblink Paleoanthropology of the Balkans and Anatolia: Human Evolution and its Context, Roksandic, Mirjana, 2017-01-18, Springer, 978-94-024-0874-4, en, Sites on the Adriatic coast and its hinterland are Mujina pećina, with a Mousterian stratigraphic sequence, and Velika pećina in Kličevica with finds approximately 40,000 years old that are late Mousterian.JOURNAL, Boschian, Giovanni, Gerometta, Katarina, Ellwood, Brooks B., Karavanić, Ivor, 2017-09-02, Late Neandertals in Dalmatia: Site formation processes, chronology, climate change and human activity at Mujina Pećina, Croatia,weblink Quaternary International, Prehistoric hunter-gatherers and farmers in the Adriatic and neighboring regions, en, 450, 12–35, 10.1016/j.quaint.2016.09.066, 2017QuInt.450...12B, 1040-6182, 11568/850037, free, An underwater Mousterian excavation site at KaÅ¡tel Å tafilić - Resnik recovered about 100 artefacts of which half are tools, Mousterian centripetal cores and side scrapers, several pseudotools, numerous pieces of chert and Levallois method artifacts.WEB, Kasni musterijen na istočnom Jadranu – temelj za razumijevanje identiteta kasnih neandertalaca i njihovog nestanka,weblink en-US, 2020-05-17, WEB, Karavanić, Ivor & Janković, Ivor & Ahern, Jim & Smith, F.. (2014). Current research on the Middle Paleolithic cave, open-air and underwater site in Dalmatia, Croatia. Dolní VÄ›stonice Studies. 20. 31-36.,weblink ResearchGate, {{Citation|last=Karavanić|first=Ivor|title=Research on underwater Mousterian: The site of Resnik – KaÅ¡tel Å tafilić, Dalmatia, Croatia.|date=2015|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/287643498|work=In book: Forgotten times and spaces: New perspectives in paleoanthropological, paleoetnological and archeological studies.|pages=73–79|editor-last=Sázelová|editor-first=Sandra|publisher=Masaryk university|language=en|doi=10.5817/CZ.MUNI.M210-7781-2015-6|isbn=978-80-210-7781-2|access-date=2020-05-18|editor2-last=Novák|editor2-first=Martin|editor3-last=Mizerová|editor3-first=Alena}} Other underwater Paleolithic finds are a single Mousterian tool offshore of Povljana on the island of Pag and stone tools of possible Mousterian type at a depth of 3 m at Stipanac in Lake Prokljan.{{Citation|last1=Rossi|first1=Irena Radić|title=Croatia: Submerged Prehistoric Sites in a Karstic Landscape|date=2020|work=The Archaeology of Europe’s Drowned Landscapes|pages=347–369|editor-last=Bailey|editor-first=Geoff|series=Coastal Research Library|publisher=Springer International Publishing|language=en|doi=10.1007/978-3-030-37367-2_18|isbn=978-3-030-37367-2|last2=Karavanić|first2=Ivor|last3=Butorac|first3=Valerija|editor2-last=Galanidou|editor2-first=Nena|editor3-last=Peeters|editor3-first=Hans|editor4-last=Jöns|editor4-first=Hauke|doi-access=free}} In the area north of the town of Zadar an extensive series of sites exist where usually small Micro-mousterian industry tools, denticulates and notched pieces are found.

File:Stone Scrapers for Cleaning & Working Leather, Mousterian Culture, Israel, 250,000-50,000.jpg|Stone scrapers for cleaning and working leather, Mousterian Culture, Israel, 250,000-50,000 BPFile:Le Moustier skull in Berlin reconstitution.jpg|Le Moustier Neanderthal skull reconstitution, Neues Museum BerlinWEB, Bekker, Henk, Neues Museum in Berlin 1175,weblink 23 October 2017, File:Pointe levallois Beuzeville MHNT PRE.2009.0.203.2.jpg|Levallois pointsFile: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.jpg|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. IsraelFile:Mousterian & Aurignacian Cultures, Stone Burins used for incising stone and wood, Qafzeh, Hayonim, el-Wad Cave, 250,000-22,000 BP Israel (detail).jpg|Mousterian & Aurignacian Cultures, Stone Burins used for incising stone and wood, Qafzeh, Hayonim, el-Wad Cave, 250,000-22,000 BP IsraelFile:Mousterian Culture Stone Spearheads 250,000-50,000 Israel (detail).jpg|Mousterian Culture, stone spearheads, 250,000-50,000. Israel Museum

See also

{{Paleolithic|middle}}

• Neanderthal extinction hypotheses
• Levallois technique

References

{{Reflist}}

External links

{{Commons category|Mousterian}}

• NEWS,weblink Neanderthals' Last Stand Is Traced, The New York Times, 13 September 2006,

{{Prehistoric technology|tools|state=expanded}}{{Authority control}}