ENTRY #11
50,000-30,000, Mousterian Age
INTRODUCTORY CITATIONS
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1,000,000-10,000, Paleolithic Overview.
The Late Paleolithic Age is
sub-divided into five BCE periods:
Mousterian Age, 50,000 – 30,000
Aurignacian Age, 30,000 – 25,000
Gravettian Age, 25,000 – 20,000
Solutrean Age, 20,000 – 15,000
Magdalenian Age, 15,000 – 10,000.
(RGS.)
ENTRY NARRATIVE
The Mousterian Age, also known as Levalloisian – Mousterian, is so named
because of the Mousterian type of flint tool implements that prevailed throughout
the glaciated areas. These implements were handcrafted flint work consisting of
triangular points that were struck from the core of a flint. They were used for
hunting mammoth, bear, reindeer and rhinoceros as well as dressing skins. These
ancient tools were consistent in form and considered to be the prototype to the
later blade cultures of the Upper Paleolithic. Additional finds include fragments of
bone and stone that were incised with lines. Numerous interpretations suggest that
these notches were notations of lunar cycles. (TROC; CAH: Vol. 1, Part 1; PDA; CEOA;
MG: 683.) *
* Ancient Stone Tool Update, 2015.
Ancient stone tools have been discovered at Lomekwi 3 in West Turkana,
Kenya. They were made 3.3 million years ago, predating the earliest sils
of the first member of the human genus – Homo habilis – by about
500,000 years. ‘The cores and flakes are clearly knapped,’ says team
member Sonia Harmand of Stony Brook University, but they are also very
different from the Oldowan examples that were previously the earliest
stone tools’ (TFT: 12).
IMAGE REFERENCES
IMAGE: AURIGNACIAN VULVA IN STONE: LA FERRASSIE, FRANCE.
PHOTO: © GSA. DESCRIPTION: INCISED AURIGNACIAN VULVA IN STONE, LA
FERRASSIE, FRANCE.
SLIDE LOCATION NEO. PAL. FRANCE, SHEET 2, ROW 4, SLEEVE 3, SLIDE #18, c.
34,000- 28,000 BCE.
CU_NPF_S2_R4_SL3_S18.jpg
SHOT ON LOCATION: THE MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY: NEW YORK, NY.
NOTE 1: FIELDWORK PROJECT 1993.
PHOTO NOTE: FOR AURIGNACIAN VULVA PHOTO RESEARCH, SEE THE NEW
NATURAL MUSEUM OF PREHISTORY LES EYZIES IN THE VILLAGE OF LES EYZIES,
FRANCE, DISTINGUISHED AS ONE THE FINEST ICE AGE AND MAGDALENIAN
COLLECTIONS IN THE WORLD.
IMAGE: AURIGNACIAN VULVA FROM THE VALLEY OF VÉZÈRE: DORDOGNE,
FRANCE.
PHOTO: © GSA. DESCRIPTION: AURIGNACIAN INCISED VULVA IN STONE FROM
CAVES IN THE VALLEY OF VÉZÈRE, DORDOGNE, FRANCE.
SLIDE LOCATION NEO. PAL. FRANCE, SHEET 2, ROW 4, SLEEVE 4, SLIDE #19, c. 30,000
BCE.
CU_NPF_S2_R4_SL4_S19.jpeg
SHOT ON LOCATION: HAUTE GARGONNE, FRANCE: MUSÉE DES ANTIQUITÉS
NATIONALES. (SAINT-GERMAIN-EN-LAYE, FRANCE IS JUST OUTSIDE OF PARIS.)
NOTE 1: FIELDWORK PROJECT 1982-1989.
PHOTO NOTE: SEE THE NEW NATURAL MUSEUM OF PREHISTORY LES EYZIES IN
THE VILLAGE OF LES EYZIES, FRANCE, DISTINGUISHED AS ONE THE FINEST ICE
AGE AND MAGDALENIAN COLLECTIONS IN THE WORLD.
ENTRY 11 GODDESS SITES AND ARTIFACT IMAGE COLLECTIONS
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GSA TEXT REFERENCES
IMAGE: SAMPLE TEXT