Crossing Borders. The late Neanderthal world (MIS 5d-3) from a macro-regional perspective

Karen Ruebens – supervised by Dr John McNabb

Larger-scale comparative studies of Neanderthal stone tool assemblages have been obscured in the past by the use of different typological frameworks by different academic traditions. One of the aims of this PhD research is to overcome these epistemological issues by the application of one coherent attribute analysis to different assemblages from different areas of Western Europe (Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, France and England). The focus is on assemblages from the more recent phase of the Middle Palaeolithic (MIS 5d-3, ca. 120-30 kya BP) rich in bifacial tools, since they seem to contain a degree of geographical patterning allowing to catch glimpses of possible cultural preferences. This presentation will provide some preliminary results of these analyses, touching upon questions such as: What macro-regional entities can be recognised? What are the real similarities and differences between these collections? What do these differences/similarities mean in terms of Neanderthal behaviour?