Neanderthal settlement of the Central Balkans during MIS 5: Evidence from Pešturina Cave, Serbia

Mihailović, Dušan; Milošević, Stefan; Blackwell, Bonnie A.B.; Mercier, Norbert; Mentzer, Susan M.; Miller, Christopher E.; Morley, Mike W.; Bogićević, Katarina; Đurić, Dragana; Marković, Jelena; Mihailović, Bojana; Dragosavac, Sofija; Plavšić, Senka; Skinner, Anne R.; Chaity, Iffath; Huang, Yiwen E.W.; Chu, Seimi; Nenadić, Draženko; Radović, Predrag; Lindal, Joshua; Roksandić, Mirjana

doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2021.09.003

Cited by 7 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 86 publications

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“…However, for prehistoric people karst caves were significant shelters or temporary habitats and sacred locations, which altogether subsequently provided priceless data on human evolution to the present scientists (e.g. Mihailović, D. et al 2022). Historically, many karst areas, as being relatively isolated from major communication directions, had been inhabited as people's refuges from conquerors (De Waele, J.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Public knowledge on karst and protected areas: A case study of Tara National Park, Serbia

et al. 2022

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The aim of this paper is to present the results of our research on the knowledge and awareness of visitors and residents about karst and protected areas (PAs). The research was carried out in the Tara National Park (NP)in western Serbia, which includes karst landscapes. By conducting surveys with visitors, local population, and National Park employees, as well as interviews with local key persons, NP key persons and external experts, we got a deeper understanding of the issues related to knowledge on karst and PAs. We also investigated whether local people or visitors knew the values of karst landscapes in general and how they were informed or learned about the Tara NP. In addition, we also analysed the content of these topics in school curricula and textbooks in Serbia. We concluded that the awareness about the researched topics is unsatisfactory at present thus it should be raised to a higher level, both in the case of local people and in the case of visitors. One of the most significant ways to improve the current level is through formal, non-formal, and informal education.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Public knowledge on karst and protected areas: A case study of Tara National Park, Serbia

et al. 2022

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The Middle Paleolithic of the Balkans: Industrial Variability, Human Biogeography, and Neanderthal Demise

Dogandžić

2023

J World Prehist

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Europe is characterized by an uneven record of Middle Paleolithic occupations. Specifically, large parts of southeastern Europe display markedly lower site densities and less intensive evidence of human presence than is found elsewhere; this has often resulted in the exclusion of the Balkans from debates related to Pleistocene human adaptation. The discrepancy stems either from the lower population densities of southeastern Europe or an imbalance in research across Europe. Additionally, our understanding of Balkan Middle Paleolithic stone tool industries suffers from the use of Mousterian labels defined when Bordian typology was the chief method of lithic analysis. Industrial facies then defined and still in use include Balkan Charentian, Levallois Mousterian, Micromousterian, Denticulate Mousterian; their relation with the rest of the Eurasian record was and remains unclear. This paper sets aside the issue of scarcity of Pleistocene occupations and tries to address Neanderthal biogeography, and variations in Neanderthal technological behavior and subsistence, based on the available record. It reviews the current Middle Paleolithic record in the Balkans, presents the apparent temporal and spatial trends, and presents the provisional biogeography of hominins, including scenarios for the demise of Neanderthals at or soon after the arrival of modern humans in Europe. The paper ends with a discussion of perspectives for future research arising from this analysis of the available record and proposes some hypotheses regarding the role of the Balkans in the overall context of the occupational history of western Eurasia in the Middle/Late Pleistocene.

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Flexibility within Quina lithic production systems and tool-use in Northern Italy: implications on Neanderthal behavior and ecology during early MIS 4

Delpiano

Zupancich

Bertola

et al. 2022

Archaeol Anthropol Sci

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The Quina Mousterian is one of the well-defined Middle Paleolithic techno-complexes. Despite the pivotal research carried out in south-western France, the presence of this techno-complex across the rest of Europe is still poorly documented. Here we apply a techno-functional approach, combining technological and use-wear analyses, for reconstructing lithic core-reduction, tool-reduction, and tool use at De Nadale Cave, a single-layered Mousterian site with Quina features located in northern Italy and dated to the early MIS 4. Our results indicate that the flexible core reduction strategies identified at De Nadale show some similarities with the Quina knapping method, in addition to the adoption of centripetal methods on single surfaces. Variations of this scheme identified at De Nadale are the exploitation of lateral and narrow fronts which are aimed to the production of elongated, small blanks. A parallel, ramified reduction is applied to limace cores and Quina or demi-Quina scrapers having diversified purpose (mixed matrix). These blanks are exploited as tools and cores-on-flakes from which thinner, usable flakes or bladelets are detached. The use-wear identified on both scrapers and reaffutage flakes further confirm this behavior, demonstrating the use of both tools, albeit for different tasks (i.e., scraping and cutting). We discuss the ecological implications of this behavior within the Quina Mousterian. The high frequency of retouched tools and Quina or demi-Quina scrapers seems to accompany the highly mobile human groups associated with this techno complex and their seasonally organized subsistence strategies. Finally, by combining available multidisciplinary data on paleoenvironment, subsistence, and chronology, we were able to embed the neanderthal settlement of De Nadale in a regional and Western European frame, underlining the importance of the Quina Mousterian in Western Eurasia between MIS 4 and early MIS 3.

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Neanderthal settlement of the Central Balkans during MIS 5: Evidence from Pešturina Cave, Serbia

Cited by 7 publications

References 86 publications

Public knowledge on karst and protected areas: A case study of Tara National Park, Serbia

Public knowledge on karst and protected areas: A case study of Tara National Park, Serbia

The Middle Paleolithic of the Balkans: Industrial Variability, Human Biogeography, and Neanderthal Demise

Flexibility within Quina lithic production systems and tool-use in Northern Italy: implications on Neanderthal behavior and ecology during early MIS 4

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