Middle Paleolithic

The prehistoric period in Europe and western Asia, roughly 300,000 to 40,000 years ago, associated chiefly with Neanderthals and Mousterian stone tools.

Mousterian: A Middle Paleolithic stone-tool industry, especially associated with Neanderthals in Europe and western Asia. Its characteristic tools give the period its most familiar archaeological signature.
Mousterian point: A pointed stone flake made within Mousterian traditions, often suited to hafting or cutting. Points reveal how prepared flakes became practical hunting and processing tools.
Shanidar Cave: A cave site in Iraqi Kurdistan known for Neanderthal remains and Middle Paleolithic deposits. Its burials and fossils illuminate Neanderthal life in western Asia.
Middle-to-Upper Paleolithic transition: The archaeological transition from Middle Paleolithic technologies to Upper Paleolithic industries across Eurasia. Its timing marks the period’s end and the spread of new cultural traditions.
Neanderthal symbolic behavior: The use of objects or practices by Neanderthals that may have conveyed symbolic meaning. Pigments, ornaments, and markings test assumptions about Middle Paleolithic cognition.
Levallois technique: A method of preparing a stone core to produce flakes of predetermined shape and size. Prepared-core technology underlies many tools found at Middle Paleolithic sites.
Stone tool hafting: The attachment of a stone tool to a handle or shaft using materials such as wood, resin, or sinew. Hafting joined stone edges to handles, expanding tool function and force.
La Chapelle-aux-Saints 1: A Neanderthal skeleton discovered in southwestern France in 1908. Its excavation shaped early interpretations of Neanderthal anatomy and behavior.
Neanderthal extinction: The disappearance of Neanderthal populations from the fossil record around 40,000 years ago. Neanderthals’ decline overlaps the end of the Middle Paleolithic in many regions.
Neanderthal burial: The deliberate placement of Neanderthal dead in graves, a practice debated through archaeological evidence. Burial claims bear on social care and ritual during the period.

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