What is "micoquien"

The Micoquien is an early middle paleolithic industry, that is found in the Eemian and in early episode of the Würm glaciation (about 130,000 to 70,000 BCE). The Micoquien is distinguished technologically by the appearance of distinctly asymmetrical bifaces. Its discoverer and namer was the archeologist and art trader Otto Hauser. Hauser then sold a great number of so-called Micoque-wedges that he found in excavations in La Micoque (in Les Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireuil, Dordogne, France) to museums and collectors.

The specially formed handaxes from La Micoque exhibited an often a rounded base. The problem with the term Micoquien is that later excavations have revealed an older time placement for the La Micoque axes, which are now dated in the Riss glaciation.

A wider artifact from the Micoquien is the Keilmesser (bifacially worked knife), which has a clearer chronology in Central Europe. From this some archeologists have proposed substituting the term Keilmesser group for Micoquien.

Micoquien artifacts are distributed across all of Eastern Europe and Central Europe. In Germany they can be found at Balver Höhle and Lonetal.