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Châtelperronian was the earliest industry of the Upper Palaeolithic in central and south western France, extending also into Northern Spain. It derives its name from the site of la Grotte des Fées, in Châtelperron, Allier, France.

It appears to have been derived from the earlier, Neanderthal, Mousterian industry as it made use of Levallois cores and represents the period when Neanderthals and modern humans occupied Europe together. It lasted from between c. 35,000 and c. 29,000 BP. The industry produced denticulate, or toothed, stone tools and also a distinctive flint knife with a single cutting edge and a blunt, curved back. It may also have produced jewellery which has been used to support theories regarding the sophistication of the Neanderthals.

It was superseded by the human Aurignacian industry indicating that the Neanderthals disappeared around 29,000 BP. Nevertheless both cultures shared the region for some time. In Cantabria (Spain), two caves (Morín and El Pendo) show opposite stratigraphies: while in Morín early Aurignacian remains are directly above Châtelperronian, in nearby El Pendo it is the opposite case: Châtelperronian is above (more recent) than Aurignacian, what is interpreted as an exchange of dwelling site by two different groups. C-14 dates for these changes are of c. 28,500 BP^[1]

In spite of being archaeologically associated with Neanderthal people, some suspect Châtelperronian to be at the origins of the very similar Gravettian culture. Traditionally (French school) both cultures have been classified together under the name Perigordian, being Early Perigordian equivalent to Châtelperronian and all the other phases corresponding to Gravettian^[1].^[2][3]

• Upper Paleolithic
• Gravettian
• Périgordian
• Neanderthal
• Franco-Cantabrian region
• Synoptic table of the principal old world prehistoric cultures

1. ^ ^{a b} F. Jordá Cerdá et al., Historia de España 1. Prehistoria. Gredos ed. 1986. ISBN 84-249-1015-X
2. ^ X. Peñalver, Euskal Herria en la Prehistoria. Orain ed. 1996. ISBN 84-89077-58-4
3. ^ M.H. Alimen and M.J. Steve, Prehistoria. Siglo XXI ed. 1970. ISBN 84-323-0118-3

• Picture Gallery of the Paleolithic (reconstructional palaeoethnology), Libor Balák at the Czech Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Archaeology in Brno, The Center for Paleolithic and Paleoethnological Research