Le Moustier is an archeological site consisting of two

rock shelter A rock shelter (also rockhouse, crepuscular cave, bluff shelter, or abri) is a shallow cave-like opening at the base of a bluff or cliff. In contrast to solutional caves (karst), which are often many miles long or wide, rock shelters are alm ...

s in Peyzac-le-Moustier, a village in the

Dordogne Dordogne ( , or ; ; ) is a large rural departments of France, department in south west France, with its Prefectures in France, prefecture in Périgueux. Located in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region roughly half-way between the Loire Valley and ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. It is known for a complete skeleton of the species ''

Homo neanderthalensis Neanderthals ( ; ''Homo neanderthalensis'' or sometimes ''H. sapiens neanderthalensis'') are an extinct group of archaic humans who inhabited Europe and Western and Central Asia during the Middle to Late Pleistocene. Neanderthal extinctio ...

'' that was discovered in 1908. The

Mousterian The Mousterian (or Mode III) is an Industry (archaeology), archaeological industry of Lithic technology, stone tools, associated primarily with the Neanderthals in Europe, and with the earliest anatomically modern humans in North Africa and We ...

tool culture is named after Le Moustier, which was first excavated from 1863 by the Englishman Henry Christy and the Frenchman Édouard Lartet. In 1979, Le Moustier was inscribed on the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

World Heritage List World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural heritag ...

along with other nearby archeological sites as part of the '' Prehistoric Sites and Decorated Caves of the Vézère Valley''.

Skeleton

The skeleton known as "Le Moustier" is estimated to be approximately 45,000 years old. The characteristics of its skull include a large nasal cavity and a somewhat less developed brow ridge and occipital bun, as might be expected in a juvenile. After discovery, the skull was dismantled, cast and reconstructed at least four times. During this process, the skull received considerable amounts of damage; for example, after it was sold to the Ethnological Museum of Berlin, a dentist broke the alveolar bone to access the teeth. It was later damaged in the Allied bombing of

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, then looted by the

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, which returned the remains of the skull to the

German Democratic Republic East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

in 1958. The skull is now missing many parts, the teeth glued into the wrong position, and it has been dipped into glue, covered with varnish, and painted with plaster. Consequently, its scientific value is much reduced. Le Moustier sup.jpg, Upper shelter Le Moustier inf.jpg, Lower shelter Flint, Moustier 1863.jpg, Flint handaxe, excavated 1863,

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

Franks HouseDSCF7158.jpg, A box of side scrapers excavated by Lartet and Christy Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte Berlin 069A (complete skull).jpg, Le Moustier 1 skull today in Neues Museum Berlin. File:Le Moustier skull in Berlin reconstitution.jpg, Le Moustier 1 Neanderthal facial reconstitution, Neues Museum Berlin Neanderthal Flintworkers (Knight, 1920).jpg, Restoration of ''Neanderthal Flintworkers, Le Moustier Cavern, Dordogne, France'' by Charles R. Knight

Stone tools

Rekonstruktionszeichnung Steinartefakt mit Griffstelle

Study of the artifacts found in Le Moustier reveals the use of glue made from a mixture of

ocher Ochre ( ; , ), iron ochre, or ocher in American English, is a natural clay earth pigment, a mixture of ferric oxide and varying amounts of clay and sand. It ranges in colour from yellow to deep orange or brown. It is also the name of the col ...

and

bitumen Bitumen ( , ) is an immensely viscosity, viscous constituent of petroleum. Depending on its exact composition, it can be a sticky, black liquid or an apparently solid mass that behaves as a liquid over very large time scales. In American Engl ...

by Middle Paleolithic humans to make hand grips for cutting and scraping stone tools. Experiments by archaeologists showed that the mass was sufficiently sticky so that a small stone tool could get stuck in it and the mass could serve as a handle, but the hands remained clean. This presupposes knowledge of both material characteristics and that a combination of these substances results in a new material. In addition, both components, bitumen and ochre, had to be gathered from different deposits far away from each other. This required planning and foresight in order to optimise the flint blades accordingly.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Moustier, Le 1863 archaeological discoveries Prehistoric sites in France Archaeological type sites Neanderthal sites Mousterian Rock shelters Buildings and structures in Dordogne Prehistoric Sites and Decorated Caves of the Vézère Valley

Skeleton

Stone tools

See also

References

External links