Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition in Moravia: New sites, new dates, new ideas

Abstract

There are several hundred recorded Early Upper Paleolithic sites in Moravia, most of which are surface sites. In the last 12 years we have been employing a new surveying method that has led to the discovery of 14 new stratified Early Upper Paleolithic sites. Some of those sites have now been excavated, yielding new data concerning the chronological position as well as technological–typological homogeneity of individual technocomplexes. Appearance of both MP/UP transitional technocomplexes – Bohunician and Szeletian – fit chronologically with Greenland Interstadial 12. While the Bohunician is characterized by the evolved Levallois technology, the Szeletian is characterized by bifacial knapping and intensive flat retouch. It is not known precisely which hominins made these techno-complexes. A recent study has argued that the Bohunician was made by the first Anatomically Modern Humans that migrated to this area while the Szeletian was made by the local Neanderthals. Early Aurignacian sites known from Danube Valley have never been found in Moravia. All the dates suggest a later Aurignacian occupation chronologically contemporaneous with Greenland Interstadial 8.