“…44 and 40 ka (thousands of years) cal BP (J€ oris and Street, 2008;Hublin et al, 2012;Talamo et al, 2012;Hublin, 2013Hublin, , 2015Higham et al, 2014; all radiocarbon ages throughout this paper are expressed in calibrated years before present). During this key period, modern humans also occupied parts of Europe which until then had been populated exclusively by Neanderthals (Hoffecker, 2009;Hublin, 2013Hublin, , 2015Nigst et al, 2014;Benazzi et al, 2015). Originally described as an early phase of the Upper Palaeolithic, the Châtelperronian is characterized by curved, backed, pointed blades (Breuil, 1909) and its links with the local Mousterian have been heavily debated since the early 20th century.…”