Tag Archives: Neanderthal

Transport of raw materials during the Middle Paleolithic

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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Sede Boker: Against the “behavioral modernity-paradigm”

A simple scraper and a borer-like biface . Two isolated findings from the Negev at Sede Boker. Were these artifacts produced by modern  or archaic humans? This seems to be a strange question, because both tools are within the range … Continue reading

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The Comeback of a relative chronology: How old is the Chatelperronian? .

This is a Chatelperronian Point found near Brive / France Several Questions about the Chatelperronian: Who made the Chatelperronian? ( Persumably the Neantherthals, but AMHs could aso be the makers ) Is there an antecedent technocompex? (The MTA-B?, the denticulated … Continue reading

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MTA Bifaces from the Perigord Noir

The MTA of the Perigord during OIS3 is characterized by small (length: usually < 12 cm), finely retouched cordiform bifaces, by backed elongated flakes (knives) and by well developed “upper Paleolithic tools”, mainly end-scrapers and some burins. Typical assemblages in … Continue reading

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Pigments in the MSA and Middle Paleolithic

This is a piece of Goethite, found at the Krems/Hundssteig site in the 1970ies. Such findings are common from Upper Paleolithic sites. The use of pigments by Hominines at archaeological sites during the Middle and Late Pleistocene in Europe and … Continue reading

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“Going Levallois”

Three Levallois cores from different sites in the Dordogne. The Levallois Technique is a sophisticated core preparation ev0lving in Europe during OIS-8. Indeed some researchers have recognized this technic as the beginning of the Middle Paleolithic. Some reserachers suggest, that … Continue reading

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Large Game Hunting by Neanderthals. Update 2012

After the discovery of the spears of Schöningen by Thieme in 1995, there can be no doubt, that early humans were sucessful hunters, and not disabeled scavengers, as once thought. Here I review the evidence that H. Neanderthaliensis hunted large … Continue reading

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Scraper from La Ferrassie Rockshelter

Double convexe scraper from La Ferrassie.   La Ferrassie is a rock-shelter, near 20 km southwest from Les Eyzies, Dordogne Department, France. After early excavations by E. Riviere, the large Abri was excavated between 1902 and 1923 by Peyrony, who described … Continue reading

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MTA-Biface from Beyssac near Les Eyzies

Perfect MTA-Biface from a field below the Chateau of Beyssac near Les Eyzies. In the Aquitaine, there are many hundred surface findings of typical triangular or cordiform Bifaces, which are suggested to be contemporaneous with the MTA-industries in caves and … Continue reading

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MTA-Biface from La Chapelle Aubareil

A typical subtriangular MTA-biface  surface finding from La Chapelle Aubareil, near Lascaux. During the last 25 years, sceptics about the intelectual capacities of Homo Neanderthaliensis introduced the  “imposed form” –concept into discussion . “Imposed form”  means that a mental template allready … Continue reading

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