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
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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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