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Mousterian Industry Tradition

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Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology

Introduction

Everything about the Neanderthals (and the Mousterian industry which, by definition, defines their tools) arouses great interest among our species. In fact, since the 1980s, the matter of the transition between the last Neanderthals and the first modern humans has generated an unprecedented scientometric concentration (research projects, academic meetings, publications, and excavations). All possible approaches (chronological, geoenvironmental, behavioral, socioeconomic, anthropological, etc.) have been pursued to attain a more nuanced and higher-resolution view, resulting in a history without artificial breaks or divisions, as could only be expected from a historical perspective.

The material culture of our genus clearly evolved over the millennia. Studied by lithic typology in the first place, and by analogous methods (typometric, technological, morphotechnical, and traceology) in later years, this approach has incurred in two main defects. First, it has been too...

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References

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Further Reading

  • Barton, C. 1988. Lithic variability and middle Paleolithic behavior (British Archaeological Reports, International series 408). Oxford: Archaeopress.

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  • Rios-Garaizar, J. 2012. Industria lítica y sociedad en la Transición del Paleolítico Medio al Superior en torno al Golfo de Bizkaia. Santander: Ediciones de la Universidad de Cantabria.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography, Prehistory and Archaeology, Research Team in Prehistory, University of the Basque Country (UPV-EHU), Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain

    Alvaro Arrizabalaga

Authors
  1. Alvaro Arrizabalaga
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Correspondence to Alvaro Arrizabalaga .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Archaeology, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA, Australia

    Claire Smith

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Arrizabalaga, A. (2014). Mousterian Industry Tradition. In: Smith, C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0465-2_654

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0465-2_654

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4419-0426-3

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