|The Stone Age Mousterian is a name given by archaeologists to a
style of predominantly flint tools (or industry) associated
primarily with Homo neanderthalensis and dating to the Middle
Paleolithic, the middle part of the Old Stone Age. The culture
was named after the type site of Le Moustier, a rock shelter in
the Dordogne region of France. Similar flintwork has been found
all over unglaciated Europe and also the Near East and North
Africa. Handaxes, racloirs and points constitute the industry;
sometimes a Levallois technique or another prepared-core
technique was employed in making the flint flakes. Mousterian
tools that have been found in Europe were made by Neanderthals
and date from between 300,000 BP and 30,000 BP (from Layer 2A
dated 330 ± 5 ka, (OIS) 9 at Pradayrol, France). In Northern
Africa and the Near East they were also produced by anatomically
modern humans. In the Levant for example, assemblages produced
by Neanderthals are indistinguishable from those produced by
Qafzeh type modern humans. I