Late Middle Paleolithic of Southern Poland: Radiocarbon dates from Ciemna and Oblazowa Caves

Bridget Alex; Pawel Valde-Nowak; Lior Regev; Elisabetta Boaretto

doi:10.1016/j.jasrep.2016.12.012

Late Middle Paleolithic of Southern Poland: Radiocarbon dates from Ciemna and Oblazowa Caves

Bridget Alex^*, Pawel Valde-Nowak, Lior Regev, Elisabetta Boaretto

^*Corresponding author for this work

Scientific Archeology Unit

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

15 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

New radiocarbon dates are reported for Late Middle Paleolithic (MP) layers of Ciemna and Oblazowa Caves in Southern Poland. The sites present methodological challenges for radiocarbon dating related to post-depositional mixing, materials preservation, and radiocarbon measurements near the detection limit. We describe strategies to address these issues, which allowed for estimation of the timing of lithostratigraphic layers. At Ciemna, bones associated with LateMP artifacts are older than 50 ka. At Oblazowa, bones associated with LateMP artifacts produced dates 50-45 ka cal BP and a possible Szeletian phase occurred sometime 45-39 ka cal BP. These new dates add to the regional chronology and strengthen the case that a number of distinct archaeological industries appeared in Southern Poland and Moravia during Marine Isotope Stage 3. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	370-380
Number of pages	11
Journal	Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports
Volume	11
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2016.12.012
Publication status	Published - Feb 2017

Funding

We thank Eugenia Mintz for assistance in radiocarbon sample preparation and measurement; M. Moskal-del Hoyo for paleobotanical identifications of Ciemna material; Valentina Caracuta for paleobotanical identifications of Obłazowa material; Damian Stefański for assistance with Ciemna material; and Magda Cieśla for assistance with Obłazowa material. Analytical work was funded by National Science Foundation [Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant #1334615 and Graduate Research Fellowship Program Award #DGE-1144152] and the US-Israel Education Foundation [Fulbright Student Scholarship]. AMS dates were supported by the Exilarch's Foundation, the DANGOOR Research Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Laboratory (D-REAMS), and the Max Planck-Weizmann Center for Integrative Archaeology and Anthropology. Excavations were supported by Polish National Center of Science [“Palaeolithic ritual place in Obłazowa Cave” Grant #2015/17/B/HS3/00181 and “The last Neanderthals in the Ciemna Cave” Grant #UMO-2014/15/BHS3/02219].

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

Archaeology
Archaeology

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title = "Late Middle Paleolithic of Southern Poland: Radiocarbon dates from Ciemna and Oblazowa Caves",

abstract = "New radiocarbon dates are reported for Late Middle Paleolithic (MP) layers of Ciemna and Oblazowa Caves in Southern Poland. The sites present methodological challenges for radiocarbon dating related to post-depositional mixing, materials preservation, and radiocarbon measurements near the detection limit. We describe strategies to address these issues, which allowed for estimation of the timing of lithostratigraphic layers. At Ciemna, bones associated with LateMP artifacts are older than 50 ka. At Oblazowa, bones associated with LateMP artifacts produced dates 50-45 ka cal BP and a possible Szeletian phase occurred sometime 45-39 ka cal BP. These new dates add to the regional chronology and strengthen the case that a number of distinct archaeological industries appeared in Southern Poland and Moravia during Marine Isotope Stage 3. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.",

author = "Bridget Alex and Pawel Valde-Nowak and Lior Regev and Elisabetta Boaretto",

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doi = "10.1016/j.jasrep.2016.12.012",

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T2 - Radiocarbon dates from Ciemna and Oblazowa Caves

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AU - Regev, Lior

AU - Boaretto, Elisabetta

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AB - New radiocarbon dates are reported for Late Middle Paleolithic (MP) layers of Ciemna and Oblazowa Caves in Southern Poland. The sites present methodological challenges for radiocarbon dating related to post-depositional mixing, materials preservation, and radiocarbon measurements near the detection limit. We describe strategies to address these issues, which allowed for estimation of the timing of lithostratigraphic layers. At Ciemna, bones associated with LateMP artifacts are older than 50 ka. At Oblazowa, bones associated with LateMP artifacts produced dates 50-45 ka cal BP and a possible Szeletian phase occurred sometime 45-39 ka cal BP. These new dates add to the regional chronology and strengthen the case that a number of distinct archaeological industries appeared in Southern Poland and Moravia during Marine Isotope Stage 3. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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DO - 10.1016/j.jasrep.2016.12.012

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JO - Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports

JF - Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports

ER -

Late Middle Paleolithic of Southern Poland: Radiocarbon dates from Ciemna and Oblazowa Caves

Abstract

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