Aeolian Scripts New Ideas on the Lithic World Studies in Honour of Viola T. Dobosi

Several main intriguing questions are of major interest studying the prehistory of the early humans. After the spread of Homo ergaster from Africa northwards into Europe, and eastwards into Asia, the next challenging enigma regards the dispersion of Neanderthals from Europe to the east. Despite the fact that skeletal remains of Homo neanderthalensis are rare in Central Asia, the Levallois Mousterian lithic technology that characterises the Middle Palaeolithic chipped stone industries produced by Neanderthals and, regarding the Levant, also by early modern humans, is known indeed, starting from the Iberian Peninsula, to Siberia and China. Anatomical distinctiveness and relative early divergence from other Homo sp., supported by mtDNA evidence, suggest that Neanderthal lineage probably began its evolution as far back as 600 ky ago, although classical Neanderthals are considered only those living during the last Ice Age in Europe, from roughly 100 ky to 35 ky ago, or more broadly in Eurasia from some 200 ky, “before mysteriously disappearing some 28,000 years ago”.