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Peopling of Central Europe by Middle Pleistocene hominids is highly debatable, mainly due to the relatively harsh climatic and environmental conditions that require cultural and anatomical adjustments. At least several archaeological sites certify human occupation in the region dated back to MIS 13-11, but they represent open-air settlements. Based on the new fieldwork conducted in Tunel Wielki Cave, we can date the human occupation traces in the cave to MIS 14-12. Bipolar-on-anvil knapping technique prevails in the lithic assemblage, made exclusively in flint. The obtained results have given ground for studying the frontiers of human oikumene and the required cultural adaptive abilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowa Biała 1 is a unique site of the Federmesser culture in the area of Carpathian Mountains, and also one of the few Final Palaeolithic sites known from this territory. From taxonomic point of view the artefacts represent the Federmesser culture as an element of Arch-backed points technocomplex (APT) – well known from the European Plain and practically quite unknown from the mountains till now. Hunters' camp, with the dwelling structure and workshop, was situated on a terrace of the Białka River close to its gorge, and in the proximity of a rocky hill (the Obłazowa Rock) – which itself was a great observation spot. The cultural layer found in the site was connected with an initial soil, the presence of which was observed within the aeolian loess-like deposits. Thie age of pedogenic processes (based on OSL dating) was undoubtedly younger than 14.7 ka and older than 11 ka. Radiocarbon dating suggests the Late Allerød age of the site. The present paper contains the results of fieldwork as well as geological and palaeobotanical analyses, provided data on the natural environment at the time when prehistoric hunters settled and also in the preceding period. According to study results, in the Late Glacial, during the time of this settlement in the vicinity of the Białka River gorge the patches of coniferous forests grew, in the valley habitats – alder and willow, and mires formed in the wetlands, rocky hills were covered with open plant communities with steppe and tundra elements. Variability of surrounding environs resulted in diversity of animal species and allowed Final Palaeolithic people to explore differentiated geoecosystems. Access to water and possibility of fishing was provided by the proximity of the river. Image 1 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent excavations in Ciemna Cave in the Prądnik valley near Ojców, southern Poland have brought to light new stratigraphic and techno-typological evidence concerning Late Middle Palaeolithic groups and their cultural affinities. In 2007, excavations began in the hitherto-unexplored main chamber of Ciemna Cave, with the goal of clarifying the results of previous work in other parts of the cave. During excavation the rocky floor of the cave was reached. About 1000 stone artifacts have been collected to date. Three cultural traditions have been documented: Mousterian, Taubachian, and Micoquian. Within the Micoquian tradition, three cultural levels were observed, which enriches the previous understanding of occupational phases at the site. These findings permit revision of the traditional terms “Prądnik industry” and “Prądnik technique.” [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Although debris, loams and clays are usually regarded as typical cave sediments, loess and loess-like sediments are common among clastic cave deposits in the near-entrance facies of caves and rock shelters. Late Weichselian loess layers are very common in caves from the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland and were recognized in almost each excavated cave and rock shelter. These layers were initially dated to the LGM (Last Glacial Maximum), but new chronometric dating results are available that allow us to present a more detailed scheme of the geological age of the series. This paper evaluates the significance of Polish in-cave loess layers as correlative horizons. We present the lateral and vertical stratigraphy and lithological variability of cave loesses and their usefulness as lithostratigraphic markers. These features are especially important for archeology and paleontology, as cave sediments, including loess, are usually the carriers of archeological and paleontological material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Biśnik Cave is an important Palaeolithic site located in the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland. The cave fill is a complex well-stratified sequence composed of 35 layers/sublayers interrupted by number of hiatuses and ranging from Pliocene till modern times. Fifteen Middle Palaeolithic horizons, some of them among the oldest in Poland, represent the most important part of the sequence from an archaeological point of view. The sedimentary sequences in particular parts of the cave have been studied for more than 20 years to investigate the chronostratigraphy and palaeoenvironment. The recent multi-proxy study is based on the application of new methods for the site: analysis of sedimentary and post-sedimentary structures, and weathering stage of limestone rubble and fossil bones, pollen analysis, molecular biomarkers, palaeomagnetic analysis and radiometric dating. Results indicated a more intensive role of re-working and re-deposition in the cave. Older sediments were transported into some stratigraphic horizons from sources within the cave itself as well as from outside, including palaeontological and archaeological materials. Some the detected layers therefore represent a mix derived from different sources. A record of two interglacials (Eemian Interglacial, MIS 5e and Penultimate Interglacial, MIS 7) was established in layers Nos. 15–14–13a–13 and 19a–19, respectively. Middle–Upper Pleistocene sedimentary units were identified with MIS 3–MIS 7/8, instead of previous interpretation to MIS 4–MIS 9. The age of the basal vario-colored complex, previously interpreted mostly as pre-Pleistocene, was newly correlated with MIS 7/8 and Early Pleistocene/Pliocene. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Ciemna Cave is a key Micoquian site located in Ojców National Park, in the southern part of the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland. The site is known for a distinct group of asymmetrical knives, prądniks, as well as the associated cultural assemblage, the “Prądnik industry” or “Micoquo-Prondnikiens”—both named after the Prądnik stream flowing through the valley. Excavation of Ciemna Cave carried out in the early twentieth century provided a series of stratified archaeological materials. The published sections indicated explicitly diverse sequences and contexts in various parts of the site. In Ogrójec (sector CO), a collapsed part of the cave, two cultural layers were recognized within loess deposit: an upper layer with Prądnik industry implements and a lower layer with Prądnik industry artifacts and mixture of older cultural units, including those with handaxes. A different situation was encountered at the entrance to the cave (sector C), where a much longer stratigraphic section with a few artifactually poor cultural levels was discovered. Current excavations began in 2007 targeted a new area of the cave chamber, with a primary goal of correlating geologic and cultural sequences from the previous excavations. At this stage a complete section has been exposed, which comprises 19 major geological layers and 9 archeological levels. The area has provided new lithics finds and chronological data that have allowed us to make preliminary cultural linkages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Biśnik Cave is situated in the limestone rock, 7m above the bottom of the presently dry Wodąca valley. It is located in the Smoleń–Niegowonice Range in the southern part of the Częstochowa Upland. To date, an area of 260m2 has been explored, to the depth of 150–850cm. The results of sedimentological, geomorphological, palaeozoological and archaeological investigations provided the basis for the reconstruction of the history of habitation at the Biśnik Cave, in the background of palaeoenvironmenal transformations. Throughout about 300,000 years of occupation, the cave was surrounded by a changing and widely diversified natural environment, with steppe, tundra and forest ecosystems, and marshland and aquatic biotopes. This, combined with the opportunity to exploit varied ecological niches, made the cave a particularly attractive habitation site. As a result, the cave has remnants of a number of habitation phases: ten in the Middle Palaeolithic, one in the Upper Palaeolithic and at least five in the period between the Neolithic and the Middle Ages. The importance of the Biśnik Cave stems from the fact that it has the longest sequence of cave sediments in Poland, seventeen cultural levels including remnants of the oldest Palaeolithic in this part of Europe and the oldest dwelling structures ever discovered in Poland. The history of environment changes was reconstructed based on sedimentological and palaeozoological data. The multiproxy palaeoecology and climatology data are extremely significant for the reconstruction of palaeogeography of Central Europe in the Middle and Upper Pleistocene as well as human occupation history. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The terrestrial deposit sequence of the Skala Podil''ska site in the Middle Dniester area provides high-resolution records of the older part of the Quaternary. The profile represents a unique environment of sedimentation on the undulated palaeosurface of the Podolian plateau, characterized by relatively weak intensity of loess accumulation processes, and relatively strong intensity of post-deposition processes (pedogenesis and erosion). The Skala Podil''ska succession contains fluvial, paludal–fluvial, and loess sediments, the latter with seven well-developed interglacial palaeosols which were studied in catenas. The palaeoenvironmental information is based on the results of multi-proxy studies. Based on palaeomagnetic (the MBB, the Blake event) and palaeobiologic evidence, a regional chronological scheme was made. The stratigraphic division of the Skala Podil''ska profile is tentatively correlated with the main stratigraphic units of the pre-Pleistocene and Pleistocene in Ukraine, Poland, and Western Europe. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]