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Evidence for the oldest Middle Palaeolithic cave occupation in the Romanian Carpathians

Schmidt, Christoph, Veres, Daniel, Murătoreanu, George, Cosac, Marian, Niţă, Loredana, Vasile, Ştefan, Şerbănescu, Gabriel Sebastian, Bartok, Iuliana‐Elisabeta·2025·Journal of Quaternary Science
DOI 10.1002/jqs.3667
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Abstract

The Middle and Upper Palaeolithic sites in the Carpathians and Danube lowlands constitute key contexts for tracing the dispersal of Homo sapiens into central‐western Europe and the replacement of Homo neanderthalensis. Surprisingly, the Romanian archaeological inventory lacks transitional technologies and only a few sites have been systematically excavated and numerically dated, explaining the incomplete understanding of the Middle Palaeolithic and hence Neanderthal population dynamics. Here we present new age constraints for the Abri 122/1200 and Peștera Mare caves in the Romanian Carpathians, obtained by radiocarbon dating of charcoal and bone and by optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating of cave sediments. Methodological issues and the method's upper limit cause grossly underestimated radiocarbon ages for charcoal from Abri 122/1200 and provide only minimum ages (>41–60 14 C ka bp) for bones from Peștera Mare cave. However, the OSL ages suggest Middle Palaeolithic cave occupation in the Carpathians since early Marine Isotopic Stage (MIS) 7 and lasting at least until MIS 5. These ages reinforce the vast potential of Carpathian cave sites in solidifying our understanding of Neanderthal dynamics in the region and their habitats. We discuss the reliability of this new chronology and the archaeological implications for the Middle Palaeolithic of neighbouring areas.

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  • Certain caves were used in distinct but recurrent episodes, indicating a sustainable and directed exploitation of the same landscape structures.

    “These studies confirm that certain caves were used in distinct but recurrent episodes, which indicates a sustainable and directed exploitation of the same landscape structures.”

    From Tracing neanderthal mobility through the romanian carpathians: a GIS-based least-cost connectivity model (2025) · cites this paper as [28]

    The Integrated chronostratigraphy for Abri 122/1200 section describes occupation spanning multiple periods, ‘though not necessarily continuously,’ which supports episodic use of that site. The Conclusions discuss age estimates for two cave sites but do not establish recurrent use of multiple caves or conclude that their use was sustainable and directed exploitation of the landscape. Page numbers were not available in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.84)

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  • The recently researched sites in Vârghiș Gorges indicate a MIS 3 - MIS 4 chronology.

    “The recently researched sites in Vârghiș Gorges indicate a MIS 3 – MIS 4 chronology [28].”

    From Tracing neanderthal mobility through the romanian carpathians: a GIS-based least-cost connectivity model (2025) · cites this paper as [28]

    The Contextualization section describes the Vârghiș karst sites as spanning MIS 7–3, which includes MIS 3–4 but extends substantially earlier. The Integrated chronostratigraphy section likewise dates Abri 122/1200 from MIS 7 probably to MIS 3. The claim therefore gives an unduly narrow chronology for the sites. (LLM, conf=0.87)

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  • There was no documentation of Middle Palaeolithic in the Eastern Carpathians prior to the authors' research, and all caves with Middle Palaeolithic presences in the Eastern Carpathians were included in the specialized literature by the authors' team.

    “It is important to add that there was no documentation of MP in the Eastern Carpathians prior to our researches. All caves with MP presences in the Eastern Carpathians were included in the specialized literature by the team led by the authors of this article [1,2,26,28].”

    From Tracing neanderthal mobility through the romanian carpathians: a GIS-based least-cost connectivity model (2025) · cites this paper as [28]

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  • Although the analyzed sites belong to the same technological and cultural framework, their occupations are not considered contemporaneous in the strict sense.

    “Although they all belong to the same technological and cultural framework, the occupations are not considered contemporaneous in the strict sense.”

    From Tracing neanderthal mobility through the romanian carpathians: a GIS-based least-cost connectivity model (2025) · cites this paper as [28]

  • Recent studies in the region demonstrate the existence of successive habitation events in similar paleogeographic contexts.

    “Recent studies conducted in the region [1,2,28] have made significant contributions to the understanding of the chronology of the MP sites, demonstrating the existence of successive habitation events, in similar paleogeographic contexts.”

    From Tracing neanderthal mobility through the romanian carpathians: a GIS-based least-cost connectivity model (2025) · cites this paper as [28]

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Metadata

Authors
Schmidt, C., Veres, D., Murătoreanu, G., Cosac, M., Niţă, L., Vasile, Ş., Şerbănescu, G. S., & Bartok, I.
Affiliations
  • Institute of Earth Surface Dynamics University of Lausanne Lausanne Switzerland
  • Romanian Academy, Institute of Speleology Cluj‐Napoca Romania
  • “Valahia” University of Târgovişte Târgovişte Romania
  • Faculty of Geology and Geophysics, Lythos Research Center, University of Bucharest Bucharest Romania
  • National Museum of Eastern Carpathians Sfântu Gheorghe Romania
Venue
Journal of Quaternary Science
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2024-11-14
Volume
40
Issue
1
Pages
22-35
ISSN
  • 0267-8179
  • 1099-1417
DOI
10.1002/jqs.3667
Cited by
3
References
1
Language
en
Licence
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (vor)
Funders
  • EEA Grants
  • Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft

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