The origin and spread of the Late Mesolithic Blade and Trapeze Industries in Europe: Reconsidering J.G.D. Clark’s hypothesis fifty years after

Already in the late 1950s J. G. D. Clark outlined the important changes that took place at the end of the Mesolithic period in many regions of Europe, North Africa and the Near East, which led to the production of chipped stone assemblages characterized by parallel-sided blades and different types of trapezoidal arrowheads. This paper discusses the origin, chronology, eventual spread, and distribution of the new assemblages that suddenly, almost contemporaneously made their appearance in many different territories of the Old World in the light of the discoveries made during the last fifty years.