Mousterian Assemblage Variability on an Interregional Scale

This paper makes direct comparisons between scraper-rich Middle Paleolithic assemblages from France (the Quina and Ferrassie facies) and the Near East (the Yabrudian and Zagros Mousterian) and shows that nearly identical typological patterns occur in both regions. Such a convergence is highly unlikely to result from any continuity in traditions, but it can be expected due to similarities in both regions of blank form coupled with intensive utilization of the lithic resources. This situation calls into question not only the distinctiveness of Charentian "traditions" in France (vis-à-vis other Mousterian traditions there) but also the notion that retouched tools in the Middle Paleolithic reflect prehistoric typological concepts that are stylistic in nature, i.e., are desired and finished end products. Rather, typological patterns in retouched implements appear to reflect accommodations to blank form, and thus typological similarities between assemblages reflect the degree of utilization superimposed on technologies that produce blanks of similar form.