Moustérien
|
||||
| expansion | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Europe, Central Asia, Middle East | ||||
| Leitforms | ||||
|
As Moustérien (pronunciation [ mʊsteˈri̯ɛ̃ː] ) an epoch of the European Middle Paleolithic is called. The Moustérien in the strict sense begins around 120,000 years ago and lasts until around 40,000 years ago. In Europe it is associated with the Neanderthal culture .
Etymology and history
The name Moustérien is derived from the eponymous site of Le Moustier , a village in the Vézèretal in the French community of Peyzac-le-Moustier in the Dordogne department .
Gabriel de Mortillet introduced the epoch term Moustérien (originally spelled Moustiérien ) into the scientific literature in 1872. He named the epoch after the stone artefacts that were characteristic of it and contained in the Le Moustier site. The sediment filling of the upper demolition of Le Moustier served as a type profile .
At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century , numerous other classic sites of the Moustérien were discovered and investigated, such as La Micoque , La Quina , La Chapelle-aux-Saints , the Abri Romaní , La Ferrassie , Krapina and others.
Since the beginning of the 1950s, new research methods have made it possible to better classify the rich artifact finds. François Bordes , for example, was able to differentiate between several varieties of Moustérien first empirically and then statistically with the typology he introduced (see below). These different types of facies can be distinguished by differently proportioned compositions of the individual tool finds, as well as by different manufacturing techniques for the tools found.
Since the 1960s, the interpretation of these differences within the Moustérie has been the subject of intense debate in academic circles (Bordes - Binford debate). Some authors, who are in the Bordes tradition, attribute these differences to different cultures or to cultures following one another over time. The circle around Lewis Binford interprets differences as different activities due to changed environmental conditions (also seasonal). Authors around Paul Mellars, on the other hand, see the cause in a constant process of change within a culture.
chronology
The Moustérien is one of the stone tool industries of the Middle Paleolithic , characterized by relatively small cuts followed by retouching.
In Europe, the Middle Paleolithic around 300,000 years BP only gradually replaces the Acheuléen with its rather coarse hand axes. At the same time, the levallois technique was also established . From a technological point of view, the Moustérien is therefore characterized by the flakes made mainly using the Levallois technique and the frequent occurrence of scrapers .
In Europe, the Moustérien is associated with the Neanderthals . In the Middle East, early anatomically modern humans (Homo sapiens) are also considered to be carriers of the Moustérien.
The Moustérien in the narrower sense with the facies separated from Bordes develops in the period between 200,000 and 40,000 years BP. Towards the end of this period, developments appear to diversify, but this observation can also possibly be explained by better research into more recent industries.
In the later sections of Europe, " transitional industries " are already developing , which already bear the hallmarks of the following Upper Paleolithic . In Western Europe, the Moustérien is followed by the Châtelperronien (38,000 to 32,000 years BP) and the Aurignacien , which are already counted as part of the Upper Paleolithic and are characterized by tools supported by blades. These cultures were previously ascribed to the Cro-Magnon people who had immigrated to Europe from Africa and who had gradually displaced the Neanderthals due to their higher reproductive rate. Since the discovery of a Neanderthal tomb in Saint-Césaire , however, it is now assumed that Châtelperronien was the last tool industry created by Neanderthals.
Changes in climate and environment
Like the entire Pleistocene , the Middle Paleolithic is also affected by significant global climatic fluctuations, which are characterized by an alternation of cold and warm periods; the latter can in turn exhibit significant temperature fluctuations that take effect relatively quickly. The hominids living during the Moustérie were consequently exposed to very different climatic conditions:
- temperate climate - favorable conditions for the expansion of forests ( OIS 5e during the Eemium ),
- cool-temperate climate - appearance of meadow areas covered with bushes in northern France (OIS 5c to OIS 5a),
- cold-temperate climate - steppe vegetation in south-west France (certain stages of OIS 3),
- cold climate - tundra vegetation (OIS 4).
The coldest periods are accompanied by sea retreats, accompanied by a significant relocation of the coastlines. This enabled the people of the time to reach the British Isles on foot.
distribution
The exact distribution of the Moustérie is only roughly known, as its research has not been carried out with the same intensity in all countries. Secured occurrences of the Moustérie can be found all over Europe, from Wales to Greece and from Portugal to Russia, with the Mediterranean islands being an exception. In northern Europe, its distribution area extends to the border then set by the Scandinavian glaciers. In the south it seems to reach as far as the Mediterranean - the aim is to clarify the somewhat unclear relationships between the European Moustérien and the North African Atérien - an industry of the Middle Paleolithic created by anatomically modern mankind. To the east, the Moustérien has evidently expanded beyond the Russian plains and the Urals to Central and East Asia. For example, in Mongolia there are industries that are comparable to the Moustérien. The recently discovered bones from the Okladnikov cave in the Altai were attributed to the Neanderthals by genetic analysis of the aDNA contained in the mitochondria . The associated artifact finds obviously have the characteristics characteristic of the Moustérien.
In the Middle East, between 130,000 and 80,000 years BP, the stone tools of the Moustérien were made by representatives of the species Homo sapiens , formerly known as "Proto-Cro-Magnons" - finds in Qafzeh and Skhul attest to this. Later, however, also by Neanderthals who immigrated from Western Europe between 70,000 and 50,000 years ago (finds from Kébara , Tabun and Amud).
General characterization of the stone artifacts of the Moustérien
The stone tools of the Moustérie based on tees show a wide range of different shapes. Various scrapers (single and double scrapers, convergent scrapers, curved scrapers, etc.), arrowheads, scrapers, serrated and indented blades are predominant . Some of the tees were made with very complex manufacturing methods such as the Levallois technique. Smaller, narrow and regularly shaped hand axes are often added to the tees .
The arrangement of the signs of wear and the extraordinary finds of natural adhesives prove that these tools were attached to a shaft. Microscopic examinations of the cutting surfaces have also shown that wood, fresh and dried hides and plant material were processed with these tools.
The types of facies of the Moustérien
Typical Moustérien
The typical Moustérien is usually defined negatively, i.e. H. due to the absence of hand axes, serrated blades, etc. It contains a large number of scrapers and the occasional point. Its position as a separate facies is often questioned.
Toothed Moustérien
The Moustérien ( French: Moustérien à denticulés ) leading to toothed tools is characteristic of the output of the Moustérien. In the sites of discovery in southwestern France, it is mostly at the upper end of the sediment sequence. Like the other types of facies, it results from a combination of economic, technical and cultural factors. It essentially contains only serrated and notched tees.
Charente-type museums
.jpg)
The Moustérien des Charente type consists of two sub-facies that were defined in the Charente . However, these two sub-facies are only slightly similar and are probably not related to one another. The two sub-facies are:
- Moustérien des La Quina type,
- La Ferrassie- type Moustérien .
The Quina type has a large number of relatively thick scrapers that are curved either in the longitudinal or in the side view. In addition, there are quite specialized tools such as cleavers and so-called "snails".
The tools of the Ferrassie type are quite similar to the Quina type, but they differ in their manufacture using the Levallois technique. That is why the tools of the Ferrassie type appear much more delicate compared to the massive Quina type.
Moustérien de tradition acheuléenne (MTA)
The MTA (Moustérien de tradition acheuléenne - Moustérien in the tradition of the Acheuléen) is a facie type that is also characteristic of the end stage of the Moustérien. The name, which goes back to Denis Peyrony , is misleading because this facies did not emerge directly from the Acheuléen .
In general, the MTA carries heart-shaped hand axes, knife blades with backs, scrapers and several tools from the Upper Paleolithic .
François Bordes has divided the MTA into two sub-facies:
- a type A, which is characterized by a high proportion of hand axes, scrapers and blades with backs,
- a type B, which is characterized by elongated blades and a lower proportion of hand axes and scrapers than in type A.
According to Bordes and other authors, the two subfacies should represent stages of development towards Châtelperronien . However, this view is being challenged today.
Other regional facies types
There are other types of facies restricted to certain regions, e.g. B .:
- the pontinia,
- the Taubachien,
- the vasconia,
- the blade industries of Northern Europe,
- the modern man-made industries of the Middle East.
Complex behaviors during Moustérie
In addition to the diversified stone tools already mentioned and the demanding manufacturing techniques, there are now also quite complex behaviors, such as the organized hunt for large herbivores such as reindeer , bison , aurochs and horses , some of which are placed or in natural traps (such as overhangs) as well as the targeted search for high-quality flint and its transport over distances of up to a hundred kilometers. The settlement areas were gradually expanded during the Moustérie, as evidenced by the remains of huts and constructed fireplaces in the open air as well as in caves and under demolitions.
The Neanderthals evidently pursued spiritual concerns 100,000 years ago BP - to be recognized by several Neanderthal skeletons buried in grave sites, provided with ritual grave goods and animal horns. The tombs are joined by activities of an aesthetic nature such as the collection of ocher , exceptional fossils and rare minerals . Engravings and non-figurative scratch drawings have already been made.
The oldest known petroglyphs in the rock come from the Moustérien . They were found in a cave in Gibraltar and published in 2014. The simple forms of intersecting lines could be dated to an age of at least 39,000 years through deposits above the lines.
The nomadic hunters and gatherers living Neanderthals were excellently adapted to their environment and developed to such an extent that they could survive tens of thousands of years under the sometimes extreme climatic conditions of the last glacial period . It is unclear whether their extinction around 30,000 years ago BP is linked to the simultaneous appearance of modern humans, the bearers of the Aurignacian culture .
See also
literature
- François Bordes : Typologie du Paléolithique ancien et moyen (= Cahiers du Quaternaire. Volume 1, ZDB -ID 780170-1 ). 2 edition. Éditions du Center national de la recherche scientifique, Paris 1979.
- Jacques Jaubert: Chasseurs et artisans du Moustérien . La Maison des Roches, Paris 1999, ISBN 2-912691-05-2 .
- Johannes Krause , Ludovic Orlando, David Serre, Bence Viola, Kay Prüfer, Michael P. Richards, Jean-Jacques Hublin , Catherine Hänni, Anatoly P. Derevianko, Svante Pääbo : Neanderthals in central Asia and Siberia. In: Nature . Volume 449, No. 7164, 2007, pp. 902-904, doi: 10.1038 / nature06193 .
- Marcel Otte : Le paléolithique inférieur et moyen en Europe (= Collection U. Band 293 ). Masson & Armand Colin, Paris 1996, ISBN 2-200-01389-2 .
- Bernard Vandermeersch, Bruno Maureille (Eds.): Les Néandertaliens. Biologie et cultures (= Documents préhistoriques . Volume 23 ). Éditions du Comité des travaux historiques et scientifiques, Paris 2007, ISBN 978-2-7355-0638-5 .
Web links
- Jean-Marie Le Tensorer : Moustérien. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . January 28, 2010 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Gabriel de Mortillet : Classification de l'Âge de la pierre . In: Matériaux pour l'Histoire primitive et naturelle de l'Homme . 2 ° Série, volume 3 , 1872, ZDB -ID 207922-7 , p. 464-465 .
- ^ François Bordes: Principes d'une méthode d'étude des techniques de débitage et de la typologie du Paléolithique ancien et moyen . In: L'Anthropologie . tape 54 , 1950, ISSN 0003-5521 , pp. 19-34 (French).
- ^ François Bordes: Essai de classification des industries “moustériennes” . In: Bulletin de la Société Préhistorique Française . tape 50 , no. 7/8 , 1953, ISSN 1950-2133 , pp. 457-466 , doi : 10.3406 / ex . 1953.5156 (French).
- ^ Jacques Jaubert: Chasseurs et artisans du Moustérien . 1999.
- ^ Johannes Krause et al .: Neanderthals in central Asia and Siberia . In: Nature . tape 449 , 2007, pp. 902-904 (English).
- ↑ Anatoly P. Derev'anko: Paleolithic of North Asia and the problems of ancient migrations . Academy of Sciences of the USSR - Siberian Division - Institute of History, Philology, and Philosophy, Novosibirsk 1990.
- ↑ Eric Boëda : Le concept Levallois. Variabilité of méthodes (= monograph du CRA . No. 9 ). CNRS, Paris 1994, ISBN 2-222-04772-2 .
- ↑ Eric Boëda , Jacques Connan, Daniel Dessort, Sultan Muhesen, Norbert Mercier, Hélène Valladas, Nadine Tisnérat: Bitumen as a hafting material on Middle Palaeolithic artefacts . In: Nature . tape 380 , no. 6572 , 1996, pp. 336–338 , doi : 10.1038 / 380336a0 (English).
- ^ Celine Thiébaut: Le Moustérien à denticulés. Variability ou diversité techno-économique? 2 volumes. Aix-Marseille 2005 (Aix-Marseille, Université de Provence, Thèse de Doctorat, 2005).
- ↑ Jehanne Féblot-Augustins: La circulation des matières premières au paleolithique. Synthèse des données perspectives comportementales (= Études et recherches archéologiques de l'Université de Liège. ERAUL . Volume 75 ). Université de Liège - Service de Préhistoire, 1997, ZDB -ID 1139409-2 (also: Paris, University, dissertation, 1995).
- ^ René Desbrosse, Janusz Kozlowski: Les habitats préhistoriques. Des Australopithèques aux premiers agriculteurs (= Documents préhistoriques . Volume 6 ). Éditions du Comité des travaux historiques et scientifiques et al., Paris 2001, ISBN 2-7355-0487-5 .
- ^ Bruno Maureille: Les premières sépultures (= Le Collège de la Cité . Volume 11 ). Le Pommier, Paris 2004, ISBN 2-7465-0203-8 .
- ↑ Joaquín Rodríguez-Vidal, Francesco d'Errico, et al .: A rock engraving made by Neanderthals in Gibraltar. In: PNAS . August 12, 2014, doi: 10.1073 / pnas.1411529111 .
- ↑ Bruno Maureille: Qu'est-il arrivé à l'homme de Néandertal? (= Les Petites Pommes du Savoir. Volume 108). Le Pommier, Paris 2008, ISBN 978-2-7465-0389-2 .