Evidence for an earlier Magdalenian presence in the Lone Valley of southwest Germany

Abstract

After the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) people associated with the Magdalenian resettled Central Europe, which had been uninhabited, or very sparsely inhabited, during the LGM. The precise timing and origin of this resettlement, however, remain unclear. We present new data from the Lone Valley of the Swabian Jura in southwestern Germany to improve our spatial and temporal understanding of this resettlement. Our work focuses on two Paleolithic sites: Vogelherd, a well-known cave originally excavated in 1931, and Langmahdhalde, a rock shelter approximately 2 km from Vogelherd that has been excavated since 2016. We report radiocarbon dates associated with the Magdalenian from both sites, lithic and organic artifact analysis from Vogelherd, and zooarchaeological, microfaunal, and preliminary lithic data from Langmahdhalde. These results reveal an earlier presence of people in the Lone Valley than previously thought, dating to before the Upper Magdalenian, while providing an improved paleoecological context of this resettlement. The available data suggest ephemeral use of the Lone Valley between ca. 19,500 and 16,500 cal yr BP, followed by regular occupation of the region. Our study highlights the advantages of bringing together data from multiple sites that are close together and were used during the same time in the past. In this case, the data from each site compliments each other and allows us to gain important insights into the Paleolithic settlement dynamics of southwestern Germany.