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The Micoquien is an early
Middle Paleolithic industry, that is found in the
Eemian and in an early episode of the
Würm glaciation (about 130,000 to 60,000 BCE). The Micoquien is distinguished technologically by the appearance of distinctly asymmetrical
bifaces. Its discoverer and namer was the archeologist and art trader
Otto Hauser. Hauser then sold a great number of so-called Micoque-wedges that he found in excavations in La Micoque (in
Les Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireuil,
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 ...
) to museums and collectors.
The specially formed handaxes from La Micoque exhibited an often rounded base. The problem with the term Micoquien is that later excavations have revealed an older time placement for the La Micoque axes, which are now dated in the
Riss glaciation.
A wider artifact from the Micoquien is the (bifacially worked knife), which has a clearer chronology in
Central Europe
Central Europe is a geographical region of Europe between Eastern Europe, Eastern, Southern Europe, Southern, Western Europe, Western and Northern Europe, Northern Europe. Central Europe is known for its cultural diversity; however, countries in ...
. From this, some archeologists have proposed substituting the term Keilmesser group for Micoquien.
[Jöris, O. (2004), Zur chronostratigraphischen Stellung der spätmittelpaläolithischen Keilmessergruppen. Der Versuch einer kulturgeographischen Abgrenzung einer mittelpaläolithischen Formengruppe und ihr europäischer Kontext. 84. Ber. Röm.-German. Komm.]
Micoquien artifacts are distributed across all of
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountain ...
and Central Europe. In
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
, they can be found at
Balver Höhle and
Lonetal.
Notes
References
*Debénath, A.; Rigaud, J.-Ph. (1986), Le gisement de La Micoque.- in: Rigaud, J.-Ph. (dir.): Informa-tions archéologiques: circonscription d'Aquitaine; Gallia Préhist. 29; CNRS; Paris; 236-237.
*Debénath, A.; Rigaud, J.-Ph. (1991), La Micoque.- Gallia Informations Préhistoire et Histoire; 1991-1; CNRS; Paris; 21-25.
*Hauser, O. (1916), La Micoque, die Kultur einer neuen Diluvialrasse. Leipzig.
*Peyrony, D. (1933), La Micoque et ses diverses industries.- XVe Congrès International d'Anthropolo-gie et d'Archéologie Préhistorique (suite), Ve Session de l'Institut International d'Anthropologie; Paris 20-27 Septembre 1931; Librairie E. Nourry; Paris; Extrait; 1-6.
*Peyrony, D. (1938), La Micoque. Les fouilles récentes. Leur signification.- Bulletin de la Société Pré-historique Française 35; Paris; 121; 257-288.
*Rosendahl, G. (1999), La Micoque und das Micoquien in den altsteinzeitlichen Sammlungen des Reiss-Museums Mannheim.- Mannh. Geschichtsblätter N. F. 6; Ubstadt-Weiher; 315-351.
External links
*
Geröllgeräte-Industrien*{{in lang, de}
Rosendahl, G. (2004), Die oberen Schichten von La Micoque.
Industries (archaeology)
Paleolithic Europe
Archaeological cultures of Europe
Middle Paleolithic
Neanderthals