Le Moustier

A cave near Les Eyzies in the Dordogne region of France that is the type site of the Mousterian or Middle Palaeolithic. The type artifacts from the Mousterian consist of points and side scrapers, in addition to a few hand axes (especially heart- or triangular-shaped forms), and the secondary working is coarse. Upper Palaeolithic levels cover the Mousterian levels in both the classic shelter and the lower shelter. From the lower shelter came a Neanderthal skeleton of nearly mature age.

The type locality of the Mous-terian ‘epoch’ or Middle Palaeolithic, situated on the Vezere River in the Dordogne, southwest France. Upper Palaeolithic levels cover the Mousterian levels in both the classic shelter and the lower shelter. From the lower shelter came a Neanderthal skeleton of nearly mature age found in 1908. Due to controversy over its finding and several poor reconstructions, not to mention its temporary disappearance from Berlin at the end of World War II, the full significane of this skeleton has never been evaluated, but it seems to be unlike most classic Neanderthals.