Charentian

A Mousterian (Middle Palaeolithic) culture of at least two types, Quina and Ferrassie, of the Charente region of France. Dominance racloirs (side scrapers), Quina retouch, and handaxes have been found. The Charentian seems to originate in the penultimate glacial period, and has a distribution across Europe and Russia.

After a detailed analysis of the Middle Palaeolithic Mousterian culture, F. Bordes and his collaborators suggested that it had two distinct components: a Charentian group characterized by the dominance of racloirs (side scrapers) and Quina retouch, and another ‘true’ Mousterian group including the Mousterian with Handaxes. The Charentian seems to originate in the penultimate glacial period, and has a distribution across Europe and Russia. It is least typical of northwest Europe. In most of the cases where classic Neanderthal man is known to have come from a definite archaeological context, that context is Two types were recognized by Bordes: the Quina and the Ferrassie (see La Ferrassie).