View source for Place:Le Moustier

{{Short description|Archaeological locale and type site of the Mousterian culture in south-western France}}
{{Infobox ancient site
| name = Le Moustier
| native_name = '''Le Moustier'''
| alternate_name =
| image = Le Moustier 1 before being bombed.jpg <!--Do not change this without discussion. It is scientifically more interesting to see what the skull looked like before the bombing than to see the sad state it is in today.-->
| image_size = 220
| alt = Le Moustier
| caption = Le Moustier 1 in 1909, before WWII bombing.
| map_type = France#France Aquitaine#Europe
| map_alt = Le Moustier in France
| map_caption = Location in France
| map_size = 220
| relief = yes
| coordinates = {{coord|44|59|38|N|1|3|36|E|display=inline,title}}
| location = Peyzac-le-Moustier
| region = Dordogne, {{wipe|France}}
| type =
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| excavations =1863
| archaeologists = Henry Christy, Édouard Lartet.
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| notes = {{Infobox UNESCO World Heritage Site
| child         = yes
| part_of       = Prehistoric Sites and Decorated Caves of the Vézère Valley
| criteria      = {{UNESCO WHS type|(i), (iii)}}(i), (iii)
| ID            = 85-014
| year          = 1979
| area          = {{convert|0.227|ha|sqft|abbr=on}}
}}
}}

'''Le Moustier''' is an archeological site consisting of two [[Earth:Rock shelter|rock shelter]]s in Peyzac-le-Moustier, a village in the Dordogne, {{wipe|France}}. It is known for a complete skeleton of the species ''Homo neanderthalensis'' that was discovered in 1908. The [[Biology:Mousterian|Mousterian]] tool culture is named after Le Moustier, which was first excavated from 1863 by the Englishman Henry Christy and the Frenchman Édouard Lartet. In 1979, Le Moustier was inscribed on the [[Organization:UNESCO|UNESCO]] World Heritage List along with other nearby archeological sites as part of the ''Prehistoric Sites and Decorated Caves of the Vézère Valley''.<ref name="unesco">{{cite web|url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/85/ |title=Prehistoric Sites and Decorated Caves of the Vézère Valley |website = UNESCO World Heritage Centre |publisher = United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization |access-date=9 October 2021}}</ref>

== Skeleton ==
The skeleton known as "Le Moustier" is estimated to be approximately 45,000 years old.<ref>[http://australianmuseum.net.au/image/Le-Moustier- Australian Museum] [Retrieved 2012-01-06]</ref> The characteristics of its skull include a large nasal cavity and a somewhat less developed [[Medicine:Brow ridge|brow ridge]] and [[Biology:Occipital bun|occipital bun]], as might be expected in a juvenile.

After discovery, the skull was dismantled, cast and reconstructed at least four times. During this process, the skull received considerable amounts of damage; for example, after it was sold to the Ethnological Museum of Berlin, a dentist broke the alveolar bone to access the teeth. It was later damaged in the Allied bombing of [[Place:Berlin|Berlin]] during the Second World War, then looted by the USSR, which returned the remains of the skull to the German Democratic Republic in 1958.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Claudio |first1=Tuniz |last2=Manuela |first2=Montagnari Kokelj |last3=Marco |first3=Budinich |title=Science For Cultural Heritage: Technological Innovation And Case Studies In Marine And Land Archaeology In The Adriatic Region And Inland |date=2010 |publisher=World Scientific |isbn=9789814464925 |page=274 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lLTFCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA274 |language=en}}</ref> The skull is now missing many parts, the teeth glued into the wrong position, and it has been dipped into glue, covered with varnish, and painted with plaster. Consequently, its scientific value is much reduced.<ref name="Weber 2011 p.">{{cite book | last=Weber | first=Gerhard | title=Virtual anthropology : a guide to a new interdisciplinary field | publisher=Springer | publication-place=Wien London | year=2011 | isbn=978-3-211-48647-4 }}</ref>

<gallery mode="packed" heights="160">
Le Moustier sup.jpg|Upper shelter
Le Moustier inf.jpg|Lower shelter
Flint, Moustier 1863.jpg|Flint handaxe, excavated 1863, British Museum
Franks HouseDSCF7158.jpg|A box of side scrapers excavated by Lartet and Christy
Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte Berlin 069A (complete skull).jpg| Le Moustier 1 skull today in Neues Museum Berlin.
File:Le Moustier skull in Berlin reconstitution.jpg|Le Moustier 1 Neanderthal facial reconstitution, Neues Museum Berlin<ref name="HB">{{cite web |last1=Bekker |first1=Henk |title=Neues Museum in Berlin 1175 |url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/henkbekker/38668688366/in/album-72157690275139525/ |date=23 October 2017}}</ref>
Neanderthal Flintworkers (Knight, 1920).jpg|Restoration of ''Neanderthal Flintworkers, Le Moustier Cavern, Dordogne, France'' by Charles R. Knight
</gallery>

==See also==
* [[Biology:List of fossil sites|List of fossil sites]] ''(with link directory)''
* List of hominina (hominid) fossils ''(with images)''

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==

{{Navbox prehistoric caves}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moustier, Le}}
[[Category:Archaeological type sites]]

{{Sourceattribution|Le Moustier}}