thumb|300px|map of magdalenian (in pink) and epigravettian (in red) cultures    the magdalenian (french: magdalÃ©nien) refers to one of the later cultures of the upper paleolithic in western europe, dating from around 17,000 to 12,000 years ago.dates given vary somewhat: , , britannica. it is named after the type site of la madeleine, a rock shelter located in the vÃ©zÃ¨re valley, commune of tursac, in the dordogne department of france. originally termed "l'Ã¢ge du renne" (the age of the reindeer) by Ãdouard lartet and henry christy, the first systematic excavators of the type site, in their publication of 1875, the magdalenian is synonymous in many people's minds with reindeer hunters, although magdalenian sites also contain extensive evidence for the hunting of red deer, horses, and other large mammals present in europe toward the end of the last ice age. the culture was geographically widespread, and later magdalenian sites have been found from portugal in the west to poland in the east. ==duration== the culture spans the period between c. 17,000 and 12,000 before the present era (bpe), toward the end of the last ice age. the magdalenien tool culture is characterised by regular blade industries struck from carinated cores. typologically, the magdalenian is divided into six phases which are generally agreed to have chronological significance. the earliest phases are recognised by the varying proportion of blades and specific varieties of scrapers, the middle phases marked by the emergence of a microlithic component (particularly the distinctive denticulated microliths), and the later phases by the presence of uniserial (phase 5) and biserial 'harpoons' (phase 6) made of bone, antler, and ivory.(sonneville-bordes & perrot, 1954-56)  there is
Archaeological_cultures_of_Europe European_archaeology Hunter-gatherers_of_Europe Magdalenian Stone_Age_Europe Upper_Paleolithic