A reappraisal of Western European Mousterian tools from Australian perspectives

人类进化史上的激烈争论围绕着法国的尼安德特人，那里的考古沉积物为他们的生活提供了丰富的证据。尼安德特人是复杂的文化存在，可以与我们的祖先相提并论吗？还是他们拥有不那么复杂的文化？这个问题通常是通过分析尼安德特人或穆斯特尔人的石器来解决的。以前的研究沿袭了将工具分成几种类型的传统，如？刮刀？或者？积分？这项研究采用了非基于类型的澳大利亚视角，结合了新的分析技术，重新描述了莫斯特尔的工具，回顾了他们告诉我们的尼安德特人的能力，并评估了传统的基于类型的分析系统。关于原始人进化的重要新信息将会产生。

Intense debates in human evolution surround Neanderthals in France, where archaeological deposits provide abundant evidence of their lives. Were Neanderthals complex cultural beings comparable to our ancestors or did they possess less complex cultures? This question has often been addressed through analysis of Neanderthal, or ?Mousterian?, stone tools. Previous studies follow a tradition of dividing tools into types such as ?scrapers? or ?points?. This study employs non-type-based Australian perspectives, incorporating new analytical techniques, to re-describe Mousterian tools, review what they tell us of Neanderthal capabilities, and evaluate conventional type-based systems of analysis. Significant new information about hominid evolution will result.