THE HUMAN BACKGROUND 



439 



them apparently shaped for convenience in grasping, and even- 

 tually we reach the work of Neanderthal man — the first Paleo- 

 lithic culture that can be assigned to a definite race of Old Stone 

 Age men. 



The relics of Neanderthal man, unlike those of his precursors, 

 are found typically in rock shelters and caverns. The chief source 

 has been in western France, although a similar culture is wide- 



Fig. 284. — Mousterian implements. Flint scrapers and points, and two bone 

 compressors from a rock shelter of La Ferrassie (Dordogne), France. Middle 

 Paleolithic Period. (From MacCurdy, after Capitan and Peyrony.) 



spread in other suitable regions of Europe, and in Palestine and 

 Mongolia. The most famous cavern, at Le Moustier in France, is 

 believed to have served as a human abode for more than fifty 

 thousand years, and accordingly the culture of the Neanderthals 

 is known as Mousterian. (Fig. 284.) 



The stone implements of the Neanderthals show technical im- 

 provements in the methods of chipping as well as a greater variety 

 of form. In addition to the point and the scraper there are saws, 

 hammers, drills, and skinning implements. Also tools of bone were 

 used for dressing hides, but there is no evidence of implements 

 for sewing so it is assumed that clothing, such as it was, consisted 

 of single skins. The use of fire was known and burial of the dead 

 was practice^, but even the simplest pictorial art was not developed. 



