Neanderthals on the Lower Danube: Middle Palaeolithic evidence in the Danube Gorges of the Balkans

Dušan Borić; Emanuela Cristiani; Rachel Hopkins; Jean Luc Schwenninger; Katarina Gerometta; Charly A.I. French; Giuseppina Mutri; Jelena Ćalić; Vesna Dimitrijević; Ana B. Marín-Arroyo; Jennifer R. Jones; Rhiannon Stevens; Alana Masciana; Kevin Uno; Kristine Korzow Richter; Dragana Antonović; Karol Wehr; Christine Lane; Dustin White

doi:10.1002/jqs.3354

Neanderthals on the Lower Danube: Middle Palaeolithic evidence in the Danube Gorges of the Balkans

Dušan Borić^*, Emanuela Cristiani, Rachel Hopkins, Jean Luc Schwenninger, Katarina Gerometta, Charly A.I. French, Giuseppina Mutri, Jelena Ćalić, Vesna Dimitrijević, Ana B. Marín-Arroyo, Jennifer R. Jones, Rhiannon Stevens, Alana Masciana, Kevin Uno, Kristine Korzow Richter, Dragana Antonović, Karol Wehr, Christine Lane, Dustin White

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

The article presents evidence about the Middle Palaeolithic and Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition interval in the karst area of the Danube Gorges in the Lower Danube Basin. We review the extant data and present new evidence from two recently investigated sites found on the Serbian side of the Danube River – Tabula Traiana and Dubočka-Kozja caves. The two sites have yielded layers dating to both the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic and have been investigated by the application of modern standards of excavation and recovery along with a suite of state-of-the-art analytical procedures. The presentation focuses on micromorphological analyses of the caves’ sediments, characterisation of cryptotephra, a suite of new radiometric dates (accelerator mass spectrometry and optically stimulated luminescence) as well as proteomics (zooarchaeology by mass spectrometry) and stable isotope data in discerning patterns of human occupation of these locales over the long term.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	142-180
Number of pages	39
Journal	Journal of Quaternary Science
Volume	37
Issue number	2
Early online date	25 Aug 2021
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1002/jqs.3354
Publication status	Published - 9 Feb 2022

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Authors. Journal of Quaternary Science Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Keywords

cryptotephra
Danube Gorges
OSL dating
Palaeolithic
radiocarbon dating
ZooMS

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Borić, D., Cristiani, E., Hopkins, R., Schwenninger, J. L., Gerometta, K., French, C. A. I., Mutri, G., Ćalić, J., Dimitrijević, V., Marín-Arroyo, A. B., Jones, J. R., Stevens, R., Masciana, A., Uno, K., Richter, K. K., Antonović, D., Wehr, K., Lane, C., & White, D. (2022). Neanderthals on the Lower Danube: Middle Palaeolithic evidence in the Danube Gorges of the Balkans. Journal of Quaternary Science, 37(2), 142-180. https://doi.org/10.1002/jqs.3354

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title = "Neanderthals on the Lower Danube: Middle Palaeolithic evidence in the Danube Gorges of the Balkans",

abstract = "The article presents evidence about the Middle Palaeolithic and Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition interval in the karst area of the Danube Gorges in the Lower Danube Basin. We review the extant data and present new evidence from two recently investigated sites found on the Serbian side of the Danube River – Tabula Traiana and Dubo{\v c}ka-Kozja caves. The two sites have yielded layers dating to both the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic and have been investigated by the application of modern standards of excavation and recovery along with a suite of state-of-the-art analytical procedures. The presentation focuses on micromorphological analyses of the caves{\textquoteright} sediments, characterisation of cryptotephra, a suite of new radiometric dates (accelerator mass spectrometry and optically stimulated luminescence) as well as proteomics (zooarchaeology by mass spectrometry) and stable isotope data in discerning patterns of human occupation of these locales over the long term.",

keywords = "cryptotephra, Danube Gorges, OSL dating, Palaeolithic, radiocarbon dating, ZooMS",

author = "Du{\v s}an Bori{\'c} and Emanuela Cristiani and Rachel Hopkins and Schwenninger, {Jean Luc} and Katarina Gerometta and French, {Charly A.I.} and Giuseppina Mutri and Jelena {\'C}ali{\'c} and Vesna Dimitrijevi{\'c} and Mar{\'i}n-Arroyo, {Ana B.} and Jones, {Jennifer R.} and Rhiannon Stevens and Alana Masciana and Kevin Uno and Richter, {Kristine Korzow} and Dragana Antonovi{\'c} and Karol Wehr and Christine Lane and Dustin White",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021 The Authors. Journal of Quaternary Science Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.",

year = "2022",

month = feb,

day = "9",

doi = "10.1002/jqs.3354",

language = "English",

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journal = "Journal of Quaternary Science",

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Borić, D, Cristiani, E, Hopkins, R, Schwenninger, JL, Gerometta, K, French, CAI, Mutri, G, Ćalić, J, Dimitrijević, V, Marín-Arroyo, AB, Jones, JR, Stevens, R, Masciana, A, Uno, K, Richter, KK, Antonović, D, Wehr, K, Lane, C & White, D 2022, 'Neanderthals on the Lower Danube: Middle Palaeolithic evidence in the Danube Gorges of the Balkans', Journal of Quaternary Science, vol. 37, no. 2, pp. 142-180. https://doi.org/10.1002/jqs.3354

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T1 - Neanderthals on the Lower Danube

T2 - Middle Palaeolithic evidence in the Danube Gorges of the Balkans

AU - Borić, Dušan

AU - Cristiani, Emanuela

AU - Hopkins, Rachel

AU - Schwenninger, Jean Luc

AU - Gerometta, Katarina

AU - French, Charly A.I.

AU - Mutri, Giuseppina

AU - Ćalić, Jelena

AU - Dimitrijević, Vesna

AU - Marín-Arroyo, Ana B.

AU - Jones, Jennifer R.

AU - Stevens, Rhiannon

AU - Masciana, Alana

AU - Uno, Kevin

AU - Richter, Kristine Korzow

AU - Antonović, Dragana

AU - Wehr, Karol

AU - Lane, Christine

AU - White, Dustin

PY - 2022/2/9

Y1 - 2022/2/9

N2 - The article presents evidence about the Middle Palaeolithic and Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition interval in the karst area of the Danube Gorges in the Lower Danube Basin. We review the extant data and present new evidence from two recently investigated sites found on the Serbian side of the Danube River – Tabula Traiana and Dubočka-Kozja caves. The two sites have yielded layers dating to both the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic and have been investigated by the application of modern standards of excavation and recovery along with a suite of state-of-the-art analytical procedures. The presentation focuses on micromorphological analyses of the caves’ sediments, characterisation of cryptotephra, a suite of new radiometric dates (accelerator mass spectrometry and optically stimulated luminescence) as well as proteomics (zooarchaeology by mass spectrometry) and stable isotope data in discerning patterns of human occupation of these locales over the long term.

AB - The article presents evidence about the Middle Palaeolithic and Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition interval in the karst area of the Danube Gorges in the Lower Danube Basin. We review the extant data and present new evidence from two recently investigated sites found on the Serbian side of the Danube River – Tabula Traiana and Dubočka-Kozja caves. The two sites have yielded layers dating to both the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic and have been investigated by the application of modern standards of excavation and recovery along with a suite of state-of-the-art analytical procedures. The presentation focuses on micromorphological analyses of the caves’ sediments, characterisation of cryptotephra, a suite of new radiometric dates (accelerator mass spectrometry and optically stimulated luminescence) as well as proteomics (zooarchaeology by mass spectrometry) and stable isotope data in discerning patterns of human occupation of these locales over the long term.

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KW - Danube Gorges

KW - OSL dating

KW - Palaeolithic

KW - radiocarbon dating

KW - ZooMS

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U2 - 10.1002/jqs.3354

DO - 10.1002/jqs.3354

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85113341327

SN - 0267-8179

VL - 37

SP - 142

EP - 180

JO - Journal of Quaternary Science

JF - Journal of Quaternary Science

IS - 2

ER -

Neanderthals on the Lower Danube: Middle Palaeolithic evidence in the Danube Gorges of the Balkans

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

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