THE LANDSCAPE OF EUROPE IN STAGE 3: A HUMAN & CULTURAL MOSAIC

Neither the biological replacement of the Neandertals nor the cultural shift from Middle to Upper Paleolithic was abrupt in Europe. To the contrary, the "transition" was a process played out unevenly during c.10 kyr of late stage 3, a time when the continent, with its great diversity of environments, saw a mosaic of adaptive experiments, some rooted in the Mousterian, but others either new local inventions or products of diffusion. Some so-called "transitional" industries (& possibly even the initial Aurignacian) were the work of Neandertals, while others of this group failed to change at all--as in the case of southern Iberia, despite proximity to Africa. The transition in Europe first must be understood in relation to the differing circumstances of each macro-region. The approach to the cultural changes taken here is that they represent more of a frequency distribution shift than an absolutely revolutionary punctuation event, particularly in light of the fact that changes had already occurred during the late Middle Paleolithic and many more were yet to come during the remainder of the Upper Paleolithic in the complex landscapes of Europe during stage 2.