The emergence of the Middle Palaeolithic in north-western Europe and its southern fringes

David Hérisson; Michel Brenet; Dominique Cliquet; Marie-Hélène Moncel; Juergen Richter; Beccy Scott; Ann van Baelen; Kévin Di Modica; Dimitri de Loecker; Nick Ashton; Laurence Bourguignon; Anne Delagnes; Jean-Philippe Faivre; Milagros Folgado; Jean‑luc Locht; Matt Pope; Jean-Paul Raynal; Wil Roebroeks; Carmen Santagata; Alain Turq; Philip van Peer

doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2016.02.049

Journal articles

The emergence of the Middle Palaeolithic in north-western Europe and its southern fringes

David Hérisson ¹ Michel Brenet ^{2, 3} Dominique Cliquet ^{4, 5} Marie-Hélène Moncel ¹ Juergen Richter ⁶ Beccy Scott Ann van Baelen ⁷ Kévin Di Modica ⁸ Dimitri de Loecker ⁹ Nick Ashton Laurence Bourguignon ^{10, 3} Anne Delagnes ^{2, 11} Jean-Philippe Faivre ² Milagros Folgado ^{2, 3} Jean‑luc Locht ³ Matt Pope ¹² Jean-Paul Raynal ² Wil Roebroeks ⁹ Carmen Santagata ² Alain Turq ³ Philip van Peer ¹³

1 HNHP - Histoire naturelle de l'Homme préhistorique

2 PACEA - De la Préhistoire à l'Actuel : Culture, Environnement et Anthropologie

3 Inrap - Institut national de recherches archéologiques préventives

4 CReAAH - Centre de Recherche en Archéologie, Archéosciences, Histoire

5 Direction Régionales des Affaires Culturelles de Basse-Normandie

6 University of Cologne

7 British Museum

8 LCHES - Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies

9 Centre de recherches de la grotte Scladina

10 Faculty of Archaeology

11 ArScAn - Archéologies et Sciences de l'Antiquité

12 School of Geosciences, and Institute for Human Evolution, University of the Witwatersrand

13 UCL - Institute of archaeology

Abstract : The nature of the Lower-Middle Palaeolithic transition has been one of the most debated questions in early Prehistory since the mid-20th century. The root of these debates lies primarily in how early prehistorians constructed chronological models, relying heavily upon index fossils. Such models have "artificial boundaries designed to provide structure to a complex record and, rather than being conceived of as permanent or real, should be frequently examined and revised (Corbey and Roebroeks, 2001)" (Monnier, 2006). In this paper, we will not focus our efforts on issues relating to nomenclature and systems of classification. Instead, we will focus on a time frame within which rapid behavioural and technological changes have been documented: the period between MIS 9 to 6. Working on a large scale, and taking account of all of north-western Europe and its southern fringes, a group of researchers working on the main sites from this period propose an assessment of current research on the emergence of the "Middle Palaeolithic". Using a rich corpus of archaeological sites, we discuss how humans occupied north-western Europe and its southern margins between MIS 9 to 6, focusing particularly on questions of taphonomy, conservation, chronology and environment, as well as reviewing the pattern of technological change within lithic assemblages. This overview of current research into the emergence of the Middle Palaeolithic will help to define future research paths and advance our understanding of this key period of human evolution.

Keywords : Early Middle Palaeolithic Technocomplex Mousterian Lower Palaeolithic Acheulean Middle Palaeolithic

Document type :

Journal articles

Domain :

Humanities and Social Sciences / Archaeology and Prehistory

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The emergence of the Middle Palaeolithic in north-western Europe and its southern fringes

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