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. 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.
thumb|left|Mousterian tool from SyriaMousterian 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). 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.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It was superseded by the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.
Several Mousterian variants are known:
See also
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