93 Received 14 January 2014; accepted 14 March 2014. © 2015 Moravian Museum, Anthropos Institute, Brno. All rights reserved. • LIII/1–2 • pp. 93–125 • 2015 MARIE-HÉLÈNE MONCEL, DAVID PLEURDEAU, RON PINHASI, REUVEN YESHURUN, TAMAR AGAPISHVILI, TONY CHEVALIER, FRANÇOIS-XAVIER LEBOURDONNEC, GÉRARD POUPEAU, SÉBASTIEN NOMADE, RICHARD JENNINGS, TOM HIGHAM, NICKOLAS TUSHUBRAMISHVILI, DAVID LORDKIPANIDZE THE MIDDLE PALAEOLITHIC RECORD OF GEORGIA: A SYNTHESIS OF THE TECHNOLOGICAL, ECONOMIC AND PALEOANTHROPOLOGICAL ASPECTS ABSTRACT: This paper presents an overview of the work carried out over the last decade on the Middle Palaeolithic of Georgia by a Georgian-French team, co-directed by the national Museums of Georgia and France. Since 2000, the importance of several Middle Palaeolithic key sites in the Rioni-Kvririla Basin (western Georgia) has been highlighted by this collaboration. Southern Caucasus/Transcaucasia was occupied by human groups throughout the Pleistocene. This is to some extent due to its geographic position at the crossroads of Europe, Asia and Africa, as well as the fact that the region offered a rich variety of ecological niches to hominin populations. The southern flanks of the Great Caucasus mountain range is an area particularly rich in Palaeolithic sites, which have revealed evidence of the local evolution of some regionally-specific Palaeolithic traditions, as well as broader regional influences, particularly in relation to the Levant. The archaeological record of these sites demonstrates the need for further investigation into the relationship between environmental and cultural changes in order to enhance our understanding of the role of the Caucasus Mountains during the Palaeolithic. KEY WORDS: Middle Palaeolithic – Technology – Palaeoanthropology – Economy – South Caucasus Georgia INTRODUCTION The Southern Caucasus (including Transcaucasia) is located between the Black and Caspian Seas, covering the Republics of Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. This region is at the crossroads of Asia, Africa and Europe. However, hominin mobility has been constrained by the 1200 km long Great Caucasus mountain range which ANTHROPOLOGIE