Un nouveau faciès lamellaire du début du Paléolithique supérieur dans les Balkans

Après Bacho Kiro et Temnata, la grotte de Kozarnika est la troisième grande séquence pléistocène récemment établie dans la région de l‘est des Balkans. La fouille, menée dans le cadre d’une coopération entre l’Académie bulgare des sciences – Institut d’Archéologie à Sofia et UMR 5199 du CNRS, PACEA - Université Bordeaux 1, a permis la découverte d’une séquence, datant du Paléolithique inférieur (non Acheuléen), Paléolithique moyen (Moustérien - Levallois) et du Paléolithique supérieur, daté entre 39 et 11 Ka BP (Guadelli et al. 2005). Le niveau VII, localisé à la base du Paléolithique supérieur, daté entre 39 et 36 Ka BP a livré une industrie lithique à débitage et outillage lamellaire, inédite à l’échelle régionale. Cet outillage est composé de pièces à dos et à retouche fine, abrupte, et semi-abrupte, parfois bilatérale directe appointant ou alterne. Dénommée “ Kozarnikien ” en attente d’études plus complètes, cette industrie présente des analogies dans la composante lamellaire tant avec l’Ahmarien ancien du Levant qu’avec certains ensembles de proto-Aurignacien au sud de l’Europe. En l’absence d’autres éléments caractéristiques de l’Aurignacien typique, cette industrie montre des tendances technologiques et typologiques dont on trouve la continuité dans les niveaux sus-jacents gravettiens de la séquence. Le Kozarnikien peut donc représenter une étape précoce de formation de technocomplexe lamellaire à pièces à dos. Le Kozarnikien suggère aussi qu’on ne peut plus soutenir le rôle exclusif de l’Aurignacien dans le passage du moustérien européen au Paléolithique supérieur. Il devient de plus en plus évident qu’au tout début de cette transformation, ont été engagées des traditions culturelles différentes et précédant l’Aurignacien.With Bacho Kiro and Temnata, Kozranika cave is the third major pleistocene sequence recently investigated in the Eastern Balkans. Excavations, conducted in collaboration of the Bulgarian Academy of sciences-National Institute of Archaeology at Sofia and the University of Bordeaux 1- Institute of Prehistory and Quaternary Geology –CNRS, PACEA, UMR 5199, revealed a sequence starting with non-Acheulean Lower Palaeolithic (LP), Levaloisian Moustérian Middle Palaeolithic (MP) and Upper Palaeolithic(UP) dated between 39 Ky BP and 11 Ky BP (Guadelli et al. 2005). Level VII, at the base of the UP (39-36 Ky BP) contains an assemblage locally unknown, characterized by a bladelet technology and tools made on bladelets: regular backed pieces and bladelets with thin, abrupt or semi-abrupt, often bilateral convergent or alternate retouch. Named temporarily “ Kozarnikian ” awaiting for further studies, this assemblage shows some analogies with the archaic Ahmarian from Levant and South-European Proto-Aurignacian as well. Given the lack of diagnostic artefacts of typical Aurignacian, this assemblage shows technological and typological tendencies observed in the overlaying Gravettian industries. The Kozarnikian might be considered as a possible precursor of technocomplexes with bladelet technology and backed pieces and thus,suggesting that the role of Aurignacian in transition between the European Mousterian and the UP is not unique nor exclusive. It becomes more and more obvious that, at the beginning of this transformation, preceding the Aurignacian, different cultural traditions where involved

Identifying the unidentified fauna enhances insights into hominin subsistence strategies during the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition

Understanding Palaeolithic hominin subsistence strategies requires the comprehensive taxonomic identification of faunal remains. The high fragmentation of Late Pleistocene faunal assemblages often prevents proper taxonomic identification based on bone morphology. It has been assumed that the morphologically unidentifiable component of the faunal assemblage would reflect the taxonomic abundances of the morphologically identified portion. In this study, we analyse three faunal datasets covering the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition (MUPT) at Bacho Kiro Cave (Bulgaria) and Les Cottés and La Ferrassie (France) with the application of collagen type I peptide mass fingerprinting (ZooMS). Our results emphasise that the fragmented component of Palaeolithic bone assemblages can differ significantly from the morphologically identifiable component. We obtain contrasting identification rates between taxa resulting in an overrepresentation of morphologically identified reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) and an underrepresentation of aurochs/bison (Bos/Bison) and horse/European ass (Equus) at Les Cottés and La Ferrassie. Together with an increase in the relative diversity of the faunal composition, these results have implications for the interpretation of subsistence strategies during a period of possible interaction between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens in Europe. Furthermore, shifts in faunal community composition and in carnivore activity suggest a change in the interaction between humans and carnivores across the MUPT and indicate a possible difference in site use between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens. The combined use of traditional and biomolecular methods allows (zoo)archaeologists to tackle some of the methodological limits commonly faced during the morphological assessment of Palaeolithic bone assemblages

: La grotte Kozarnika

7 fig.Catalogue de la troisième exposition nationale "Archéologie bulgare 2009", Institut National d'Archéologie et Musée de l'Académie bulgare des SciencesLes auteurs présentent les résultats préliminaires de la campagne de terrain 2009 dans la grotte Kozarnika. Il s'agit de la fouille des niveaux Paléolithique inférieur dans le vestibule et Paléolithique moyen dans la partie profonde de la grotte. A noter la découverte d'une canine supérieure d'un Primates Cercopithecidae probablement Colobinae. Cette dent est en cours d'étude

Migrations et dispersions vers l’Europe via les Balkans : du Paléolithique inférieur au Paléolithique supérieur en Bulgarie

International audienc

N°1. Kozarnika : Paleolitno peshterno nahodishte Kozarnika: prehod srednen - kasen paleolit.

International audienc

N°1. Kozarnika : Paleolitno peshterno nahodishte Kozarnika: prehod srednen - kasen paleolit.

International audienc

N°1. Kozarnika : Parvite veroyatni predvestnitsi na kasniya paleolit predhojdat znachitelno krya na sredniya paleolit

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The last 30,000 to 600,000 years ago: unravelling the timing of human settlement for the Palaeolithic site of Kozarnika.

International audienc

The last 30,000 to 600,000 years ago: unravelling the timing of human settlement for the Palaeolithic site of Kozarnika.

International audienc

The last 30,000 to 600,000 years ago: unravelling the timing of human settlement for the Palaeolithic site of Kozarnika.

International audienceKozarnika cave is a renowned prehistoric site in the Balkans. It contributes significantly to our understanding of the human past due to its rich assemblages associated with the Lower to Upper Palaeolithic periods. The cave was first mentioned in the prehistoric survey carried out before 1933. Years after, in 1996, the site was excavated systematically by Bulgarian-French researchers (Guadelli et al., 2005).Notably, various chronological dating methods have been employed alongside the excavation to unravel the timing of humans' occupation in Kozarnika. Radiocarbon dating was applied to unfold the timeframe for the Kozarnikian tradition uncovered in the Upper Palaeolithic sequence of the cave, and paleomagnetic dating assigned the Brunhes-Matuyama reversal to the layer beneath the Lower Palaeolithic assemblages with the age of 780 ka (Muttoni et al., 2017).This study presents our contribution of employing luminescence-dating methods (OSL, IRSL, pIRIR, VSL, IR-RF) to unravel the reliable timeframes for several geological units and archaeological assemblages. A vast body of techniques has been put together, enabling us to date sediment samples containing the assemblages attributed earlier to the Upper, Middle, and Lower Palaeolithic periods (Guadelli et al., 2005; Sirakov et al., 2010). Our results unravelled that the inhabitants of Kozarnika occupied that region from ca 30 to 600 ka, showing general accordance with the previous dating