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Since the vast majority of archaeological sites associated with the Aterian are found in surface sites, which lack a secure chronology and are devoid of organic material. This means that the only places where human remains from the Aterian have been found are the Moroccan caves in general and the ones near Témara in particular.
One of these sites, la grotte des Contrebandiers, then offers unique opportunities to examine the behaviors of our Aterian cousins combining knowledge from the study of the stone tools, the faunal remains, and their skeletal material itself. In addition the cave offers excellent opportunities to date the occupations using a number of chronometric dating techniques. More importantly, la grotte des Contrebandiers also archaeological traces from the Iberomaurusian directly above the Aterian deposits. This gives us a chance to examine the hotly debated transition from the Middle Paleolithic to the Upper Paleolithic in this area.
There is also a question as to the relationship between the Mousterian and Aterian industries. In most places where there seems to be a stratigraphic relationship between them, the Mousterian has preceded the Aterian, which seems to be the case in Smuggler’s Cave. However, Wendorf and Schild (1992) have suggested that the Aterian and the Mousterian may in fact be contemporaneous, while others argue that the two industries are essentially the same – the only difference being the presence of stemmed artifacts in the Aterian (Debénath et al 1986).
content provided by Utsav Schurmans from the Rapport D'Operations Pour l'Année 2006
