Stone tool technological changes and innovation from the Late Middle to Initial Upper Paleolithic in Western and Central Europe

Major transitional periods – when processes of cultural and technological maintenance, gain and loss are to be observed – offer insights into important human behavioural dynamics. The advent of anatomically modern humans and the disappearance of the Neanderthals is considered one of the major turning points in the evolutionary journey of our ancestors. This makes it of crucial importance for the current research program. While Late Middle Paleolithic, Initial and Early Upper Paleolithic assemblages chronologically overlapped shared technological resemblances, novelties are also observed.

This research produces methods and models for future investigation on the mechanisms of human technological innovations that are currently poorly understood when studying the evolution of behavioural traits.