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The transition from the Lower to the Middle Palaeolithic in Europe and the incorporation of difference

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Terry Hopkinson
Terry Hopkinson*
Affiliation:
School of Archaeology and Ancient History, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK (Email: th46@le.ac.uk)
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Extract

The author argues for a significant social and cognitive transition between the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic in Europe. Between about 300 000 and 200 000 years ago, early Neanderthals developed stone working techniques which combined methods that were previously discrete, began to occupy high-relief terrain and to settle systematically the highly seasonal environments of central and eastern Europe – skill-sets here termed the ‘incorporation of difference’. These findings make us rethink the competence of pre-modern hominins and to review, in the author's words, ‘the boundaries we erect to police the uniqueness of humanity’.

Keywords

Lower PalaeolithicMiddle PalaeolithicLevalloisclimatepatch theoryHomo heidelbergensisHomo neanderthalensisNeanderthal
Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 81 , Issue 312 , 1 June 2007 , pp. 294 - 307
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 2007

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