WHAT IS THE MOUSTERIAN?

A Middle Paleolithic culture that is defined by the development of a wide variety of specialized tools made with prepared-core knapping techniques, such as spear points. It is named for the first such artifacts recovered from the lower rock shelter at Le Moustier, Dordogne, France. Stone tools, scrapers, and points found in the cave came to be recognized as the flint industry present throughout Europe during first half of the last glaciation (Würm) and associated with Neanderthal man. The earliest Mousterian goes back to the Riss glaciation, but most of it comes from the late/middle Würm glaciation, giving a total lifespan from 180,000 bc until c. 30,000 bce. Flintwork of Mousterian type (with racloirs, triangular points made on flakes, and – in some variants – well-made hand axes) has been found over most of the unglaciated parts of Eurasia, as well as in the Near East and North Africa (in the latter two areas, it constitutes the Middle Paleolithic). Three major regional variants have been identified – West, East, and Levalloiso-Mousterian, each with subgroups. In certain industries, called Levalloiso-Mousterian, the tools were made on flakes produced by the Levallois technique. It was a progressive stage in the manufacture of stone tools. Mousterian peoples mainly lived in cave mouths and rock shelters.

WHAT IS THE MIDDLE PALEOLITHIC?

The intermediate part of the Paleolithic period, from about 100,000 years ago to about 35,000 years ago. It was characterized by the development of a variety of stone tools and the first symbolic use of artifacts and sites. It ended with the extinction of the Neanderthals. The Middle Paleolithic is equivalent to the Middle Stone Age in sub-Saharan Africa. The Middle Paleolithic comprises the Mousterian, a portion of the Levalloisian, and the Tayacian, all of which are complexes based on the production of flakes, although the hand-ax tradition survived in many instances. Middle Paleolithic assemblages first appear in deposits of the third interglacial and persisted during the first major oscillation of the fourth glacial (Würm) stage. Associated with the Tayacian, in which the artifacts consist of very crude flakes, remains of modern man (Homo sapiens) have been found. Mousterian man, on the other hand, is of the Neanderthal race. It is in the Mousterian levels of the caves and rock shelters of central and southern France that the earliest evidence of the use of fire and the first definite burials have been discovered in western Europe. The artifacts consist of: (1) the prepared striking platform, “tortoise” core (Levalloisian) tradition; (2) the plain striking platform, discoidal core technique of the Clactonian tradition; and (3) a persistence of the bifacial core tool, or Acheulean tradition.

WHAT IS THE HAND AXE?

A large bifacially worked core tool, normally oval, pointed, or pear-shaped, and one of the most typical stone tools of the Lower Paleolithic. It is the diagnostic implement of certain Lower Paleolithic industries (Abbevillian, Chellean, Acheulian), and one variety of the Mousterian. In spite of the name it was not an ax at all and probably served as an all-purpose tool. The oldest and crudest hand axes have been found in Africa; the finer, Acheulian tools are known from most of Africa, Europe, southwest Asia, and India. It was used for chopping, chipping, flaking, cutting, digging, and scraping. Hand axes first appear between 1 and 2 million years ago and they were common in assemblages for about a million years.