The most advanced tool making tradition of the Neandertals. It was also shared by some other late archaic humans and early modern Homo sapiens. The Mousterian tradition was characterized by a progressive decrease in emphasis on core tools and a corresponding increase in the importance of flake tools--especially those made with the Levallois technique. The Mousterian tradition was sufficiently advanced over the earlier Acheulian Tradition from which it was derived to be placed into the Middle Paleolithic.