Abstract
The Mousterian of France, which represents the Middle Paleolithic in that region, has had a long history of research. Nonetheless, it is clear that many fundamental issues relating to our understanding of this period are still to be resolved. Most of these have to do with problems that are common to all aspects of Pleistocene prehistory: chronology and intersite correlation, the interpretation of assemblage variability, and the relationship between biological and behavioral-cultural development. Recent attempts to integrate marine sedimentological sequences reflecting global climatic change with the more localized terrestrial records (Laville et al. 1983; Texier et al. 1983; Turon 1984; Wolliard 1978; Wolliard and Mook 1982) are promising, though at this time still tentative. Different opinions still exist regarding the Mousterian variability question (Bordes 1961b; Binford 1973; Binford and Binford 1966; Mellars 1969; Rolland 1981), though no single explanation has been fully demonstrated. And the diversity of approaches and conclusions apparent in recent publications regarding human biocultural evolution (Orquera 1984; White 1982; see papers in Trinkaus 1983) suggests that future research in this area will continue to be of great importance. Clearly, there is still much to be done before regional syntheses of this material can be raised to a higher level of interpretation and explanation. Toward that end, this chapter focuses on the second of these basic problems, namely the meaning, in terms of prehistoric behavior, of particular typological differences among assemblages.
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Dibble, H.L. (1987). Reduction Sequences in the Manufacture of Mousterian Implements of France. In: Soffer, O. (eds) The Pleistocene Old World. Interdisciplinary Contributions to Archaeology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-1817-0_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-1817-0_3
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