Le Moustier
Encyclopedia
Rock shelter
A rock shelter is a shallow cave-like opening at the base of a bluff or cliff....
s in Peyzac-le-Moustier
Peyzac-le-Moustier
Peyzac-le-Moustier is a commune in the Dordogne department in Aquitaine in southwestern France.-Population:-References:*...
, Dordogne, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. It is known for a fossilized skull of the species Homo neanderthalensis that was discovered in 1909. The Mousterian
Mousterian
Mousterian is a name given by archaeologists to a style of predominantly flint tools associated primarily with Homo neanderthalensis and dating to the Middle Paleolithic, the middle part of the Old Stone Age.-Naming:...
tool culture is named after Le Moustier, which was first excavated from 1863 by the Englishman Henry Christy
Henry Christy
Henry Christy was an English banker and collector who left his substantial collections to the British Museum.-Early life:...
and the Frenchman Édouard Lartet
Édouard Lartet
Édouard Lartet was a French paleontologist.-Biography:Lartet was born near Castelnau-Barbarens, of Gers, France, where his family had lived for more than five hundred years. He was educated for the law at Auch and Toulouse, but having private means elected to devote himself to science...
.
The Le Moustier skull is estimated to be less than 45,000 years old. Its characteristics include a large nasal cavity and a somewhat less developed brow ridge and occipital bun
Occipital bun
Occipital bun is a morphological term used to describe a prominent bulge, or projection, of the occipital bone at the back of the skull. The term is most often used in connection with scientific descriptions of classic Neanderthal crania...
as might be expected in a juvenile.
See also
- List of fossil sites (with link directory)
- List of hominina (hominid) fossils (with images)