Thomas Hauck

The earliest Aurignacian in Romania: New investigations at the open air site of Româneşti-Dumbrăviţa I (Banat)

Previous archaeological research in the Banat area (South-western Romania) resulted in the definition of a chronologically late Krems-Dufour type Aurignacian, followed by the isolated find of several considerably old anatomically modern human (AMH) remains at Oase Cave, several decades later. The last find set the stage for new stratigraphic, chronological and archaeological reassessment of Banat Aurignacian settlements at Tincova, Coşava and RomâneştiDumbrăviţa. This study presents the attribute analysis of the Aurignacian lithic assemblage at Româneşti-Dumbrăviţa I, involving both old and recently excavated collections. Alongside the more accurate identification of the main technological and typological features, pointing to a Protoaurignacian/Early Aurignacian assignation of the Early Upper Palaeolithic industry here, new chronological landmarks, much older than previously considered, became available. Preliminary thermoluminescence results point to an estimated age between 45 and 40 ka for the main accumulation in GH3 at Româneşti, thus indicating a possible contemporaneity of the Banat Aurignacian and the Oase AMH finds. A brief comparative outline of the Banat Aurignacian settlements is also provided, followed by and attempt at placing the local Aurignacian into the European Early Upper Palaeolithic landscape. Zusammenfassung Bisherige Forschung zum Beginn des Jungpaläolithikums im Banat ergaben widersprüchliche Ergebnisse. Nachdem die von dort bekannt gewordenen Aurignacien-Freilandfundstellen Tincova, Coşava und Româneşti-Dumbrăviţa zunächst chronologisch an das Ende dieses Technokomplexes gestellt worden waren, wurde nach der Entdeckung der Überreste früher anatomisch moderner Menschen in der Oase-Höhle angenommen, es handele sich um ein Proto-Aurignacien. In dem vorliegenden Artikel werden diese Widersprüche anhand neuer Grabungen und erster absoluter Datierungen sowie einer detaillierten Analyse der Altund Neufunde an der Fundstation Româneşti-Dumbrăviţa aufgelöst. Demnach handelt es sich an diesem Fundplatz um eine Steingeräteindustrie, die sowohl Merkmale des Proto-Aurignacien als auch des klassischen Aurignacien aufweist. Erste Thermolumineszenz-Alter zwischen 45 kyr BP im Liegenden und 40 kyr BP im Hangenden deuten auf eine frühe Zeitstellung von Româneşti-Dumbrăviţa innerhalb des älteren Jungpaläolithikums und eine zeitliche Überschneidung mit den Menschenresten aus der Oase-Höhle. Vor diesem Hintergrund wird die Bedeutung des Banat im Rahmen der Ausbreitung des frühen modernen Menschen nach Europa diskutiert.

Recent discoveries of Aurignacian and Epigravettian sites in Albania

Albania is a possible stepping-stone for the dispersal of Homo sapiens into Europe, since Palaeolithic traces (namely from the so-called Uluzzian culture) have been discovered in neighboring Greece and Italy. After two years of searching for evidence of modern humans in Albania we here report on excavated test trenches representing two time slices: an Aurignacian open-air site from southern Albania and two Epigravettian cave sites in central and northern Albania—areas heretofore archaeologically unknown. The new Albanian data fill a gap in the eastern Adriatic archaeological record for Marine Isotope Stages 3 and 2. Adding current knowledge of Late Pleistocene landscape evolution, a “contextual area model” can be constructed describing the habitats of these human populations.

Landscapes and Paleolandscapes in south-eastern Europe during LateQuaternary and their relevance for human habitats and dispersal

Pleistocene landscape dynamics affect climatic and environmental conditions, and may have had a major impact on modern human habitats. In this contribution, reconstructions of modern and late Pleistocene environments based on landscape evolution models are presented and discussed following a series of transects from the Pannonian Basin to the Black Sea. These transects include geomorphological features and landscapes like loess plateaus, dune fields, alluvial plains, the Carpathian Mountains, and their foothills. To enhance our understanding of anatomically modern human (AMH) habitats, transects of paleo-landscapes from the Carpathian Basin to the Black Sea coast are investigated, focussing on a time-interval of ca. 30,000-40,000 years ago and the last glacial maximum