Tag Archives: Mousterian

Transport of raw materials during the Middle Paleolithic

Posted on 05/17/2013 by Katzman

This is a 5 cm long  Handaxe from Fontmaure ( Vienne; France). The large and intensively occupied site was located directly on exposure of high quality jasper (secondary colored Upper Cretaceous flint; color oscillating from red to yellow, often multicolored). … Continue reading →

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Mousterian Scaper from Combe Capelle: For the Aura of Objects

Posted on 05/11/2013 by Katzman

This is a Quina scraper (7×2,5×3,5 cm) from an early 20th century collection from Combe Capelle, a Paleolithic site situated in the Couze valley in the Périgord region of Southern France (http://www.oldstoneage.com/cc/cc_intro.shtml). For me, such an artifact exhibits a certain … Continue reading →

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The Aterian: Do not forget the tangs!

Posted on 04/29/2013 by Katzman

These are Aterian artifacts from a surface scatter at Jbeïlat mountain in Mauritania (a tanged point, a thick non-Levallois blade and a foliated artifact). Historically, the “Mousterian” of North Africa was classified as a Middle Paleolithic including side scrapers, notches … Continue reading →

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Middle Paleolithic from Scheden; Lower Saxony

Posted on 03/25/2013 by Katzman

This is a small (6 cm long) Handaxe from a field at Scheden (Southern Lower Saxony, near Dransfeld). In southern lower Saxony, between Kassel and Göttingen, there are numerous outcrops of middle and fine-grained Oligocene / Miocene quartzites on the Dransfeld … Continue reading →

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Middle Paleolithic of the Oise Valley

Posted on 03/22/2013 by Katzman

  This is a Mousterian convergent scraper, made on a non-Levallois flake (9 cm long), found in the OiseValley in the Picardy in N-France. The Picardy is a rather flat territory and the highest peak – Mont Watigny – lies … Continue reading →

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Impact Fractures

Posted on 02/19/2013 by Katzman

This is a Mousterian point of unknown age with a small impact fracture on the tip. Could it be a projectile?    Standardized experiments with stone-tipped weapons have been applied as a methodological approach in the investigation of prehistoric flint points since … Continue reading →

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Discoid Core from Condé en Brie (Aisne)

Posted on 01/26/2013 by Katzman

This is a discoidal core (9×6 cm) from Condé en Brie (Aisne; Northern France). Compared to the Levallois concept, discoidal cores are characterized mainly by their lack of hierarchy between the striking surfaces. Discoid debitage was and is still sometimes … Continue reading →

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Scraper from the Quina Type Site

Posted on 01/16/2013 by Katzman

This is a typical middle sized Scraper from the La Quina type site (9 cm long) made from a thick cortical flake. The presence of cortex directly opposite the cutting edge and / or over wider parts of the surface … Continue reading →

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The bifacial Mousterian of the the Amorican Massif

Posted on 11/24/2012 by Katzman

A Mousterian facies rich in bifacial tools is very common in Western France, specifically in the Amorican Massif, during the Early Weichselian OIS5a-3. Firstly an MTA with cordiform and triangular handaxes can be recognised (e.g. Argentan, Querqueville, Commeaux, Meauvaines, Saint-Georges, … Continue reading →

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Molecular Archaeology at its best

Posted on 08/01/2012 by Katzman

This is an ilustration of Mucari from Leonhart Fuchs: Das Kräuterbuch von 1543. In wild plants, the secondary compounds, not directly involved in plant physiology, are considered as resulting from the selective pressure exerted by microbes and phytophagous invertebrates and … Continue reading →

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