Break vs. continuity: Techno-cultural changes across the LGM in the Eastern Carpathians

Abstract

A major impact of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) on the East-Central European Upper Paleolithic (UP) demographic and cultural adaptation is now largely acknowledged. Archaeologically, the basic trend leading to a fragmentation of the Gravettian technocomplex and the emergence of increasingly regionally-focused paleo-cultural units is also generally agreed upon. Higher-resolution regional syntheses remain, however, the only means of validating continental-scale tendencies. Here, we focus on the previously underreported archaeological record of the Romanian Eastern Carpathians, which host a consistent network of UP sites occupied in the timeframe of the LGM. The many sites located on the Bistrița river terraces display highly similar litho-stratigraphic sequences and comparable successions of archaeological layers and are therefore particularly prone to a synthetic survey. Based on recently updated chronometric support, a selected sample of 12 lithic assemblages from six sites illustrate the diachronic changes potentially related to the LGM impact on regional UP groups. In terms of raw material provisioning, mobility and techno-typological patterns, a sharp contrast is marked between the Late Gravettian and the subsequent early Epigravettian. This shift is particularly visible at the peak of the LGM, around 24 ka cal BP, and indicates an increased focus on the Eastern Carpathians.