The Magdalenian, also spelled Magdalénien, refers to one of the later cultures of the Upper Paleolithic in western Europe, dating from around 17,000 BP to 9,000 BP.
It is named after the type site of La Madeleine, a rock shelter located in the Vézère valley, commune of Tursac, in the Dordogne department of France.Originally termed "L'âge du renne" (the Age of the Reindeer) by Lartet & Christy (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, horse and other large mammals present in Europe towards 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.
