Le Moustérien du Zagros : le panorama depuis la grotte de Shanidar
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Authors
Reynolds, Tim
Hunt, Chris
Hill, Evan
Tilby, Emily
Burke, Ariane
Barker, Graeme
Journal Title
L'Anthropologie
ISSN
0003-5521
Publisher
Elsevier Masson
Type
Article
This Version
AM
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Reynolds, T., Hunt, C., Hill, E., Tilby, E., Pomeroy, E., Burke, A., & Barker, G. Le Moustérien du Zagros : le panorama depuis la grotte de Shanidar. L'Anthropologie https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.84476
Abstract
The Zagros Mousterian is a Middle Palaeolithic techno-typological lithic complex, found down the length of the Zagros mountain range in Iraq and Iran. It is associated with Neanderthal skeletal remains at four sites, most famously Shanidar Cave. Dating is problematic, but the indications are that Neanderthals with this cultural apparatus were present in the Zagros region from the beginning of the last interglacial (Marine Isotope Stage 5e) c.130,000 years ago through to c. 40,000 years ago during the last glacial. The humid deciduous woodland of MIS 5 was replaced by increasingly dry steppe in MIS 4 and MIS 3. Microfaunal assemblages and palaeosoils indicate that Neanderthals visited Shanidar Cave when environmental conditions were broadly similar to those of today, primarily in the humid phases of MIS 5 and then during brief climatic ameliorations in MIS 4 and MIS 3 that may correlate with Dansgaard-Oescheger events. Caves with Mousterian occupations at high altitudes suggest that they, too, were used by Neanderthals when conditions were not dissimilar to those of today. The indications are that the Zagros Mousterian represents the seasonal activities of highly mobile small and dispersed groups of Neanderthal foragers connected in social networks of shared cultural values and/or norms.
Sponsorship
British Academy, Leverhulme Trust, McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, Natural Environment Research Council, Rust Family Foundation, Society of Antiquaries, Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research.
Embargo Lift Date
2025-05-11
Identifiers
This record's DOI: https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.84476
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/337053
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Licence URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
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