Die Steintechnologie des Spätmoustérien. Ihre Bedeutung für die Entstehungsgeschwindigkeit modernen Verhaltens und die Beziehung zwischen modernem Verhalten und biologischer Modernität
Journal:
Mitteilungen der Gesellschaft für Urgeschichte
Number:
Volume:
13
Year:
2004
Pages:
9-28
Keywords:
Middle Paleolithic, Southwest France, Lithic technology, Neanderthals, Cultural evolution, Biological evolution
ISBN:
ISSN:
URL:
Abstract:
The paper presents the analysis of several industries of Mousterian of Acheulian tradition from western Europe dated to the first half of IOS 3 and manufactured by Neandertals before the arrival of anatomically modern humans in Europe. It is demonstrated that some behavioural traits earlier thought to be characteristics of modern behaviours associated with anatomically modern humans, were in fact shared with another biological species. Among those are: a) the variability of Mousterian technologies across time and space, b) the use of Upper Palaeolithic methods of production immediately prior to the arrival of anatomically modern humans in Europe, and c) the long-term planning of knapping activities across the territory. This paper also demonstrates that some of these specific behaviours (e.g. the scheduling of lithic tool production within the territory) might have been eventually abandoned by Neandertals, while others (e.g. the use of the volumetric method of producing blanks) were kept alive by the same Neandertals. The results show that models about the development of behavioural 'modernity' have to take into consideration all lines of evidence, including the testimony of the behaviours of non anatomically modern humans. We must not a priori consider that anatomically modern humans were better suited or were the only ones able of behavioural 'modernity'. To the contrary, we have to demonstrate in which way they were better adapted than Neandertals. Evolutionary trajectories might be punctuated and resulting from a combination of biological and contingent events which created a patchwork of changes.
