The Aterian is primarily distinguished through the presence of tanged or pedunculated tools,[6] and is named after the type site of Bir el Ater, south of Tébessa.

[8] The Aterian is one of the oldest examples of regional technological diversification, evidencing significant differentiation to older stone tool industries in the area, frequently described as Mousterian.

Fleming et al. (2013) stated: But Scerri (2012) also reckoned that the (Aterian) peoples were ultimately of sub-Saharan origin, or as we have proposed, they dispersed from Ethiopia by way of the Sahel and Lake Chad and the (interglacial) Saharan wet spots.

[12] For example, bifacial leaf points are found widely across North Africa in assemblages that lack tanged tools and Levallois flakes and cores are near ubiquitous.

Instead of elaborating discrete industries, the findings of the comparative study suggest that North Africa during the Last Interglacial comprised a network of related technologies whose similarities and differences correlated with geographical distance and the palaeohydrology of a Green Sahara.

This notwithstanding, the term still usefully denotes the presence of tanged tools in North African Middle Stone Age assemblages.

[14] In the Sahara, Aterians camped near lakes, rivers, and springs, and engaged in the activity of hunting (e.g., antelope, buffalo, elephant, rhinoceros) and some gathering.

The 'Aterian' fossils also display morphological similarities with the early out of Africa modern humans found at Skhul and Qafzeh in the Levant, and they are broadly contemporary to them.

[25] Due to the archaeological spread of the Aterian culture and unique linguistic spread of the Niger-Congo languages (e.g., languages of the Atlantic coast in Senegal, Kordofan in Sudan), Fleming et al. (2013) indicates that possibly the “Nilo-Saharan linguistic phylum is derived from the Aterian culture area.”[9] Fertile Crescent: Europe: Africa: Siberia: