Neanderthals or Early Modern Humans?

A Revised 14C Chronology and Geoarchaeological Study of the Szeletian Sequence in Szeleta Cave (Kom. Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén) in Hungary

Abstract

Neanderthals or Early Modern Humans? A Revised 14C Chronology and Geoarchaeological Study of the Szeletian Sequence in Szeleta Cave (Kom. Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén) in Hungary

Szeleta Cave near Miskolc is the eponymous site for the Szeletian technological group thought to reflect the last occurrence of Neanderthals in Central Europe. Because the Szeletian lithic industry contains both Middle Paleolithic and Upper Paleolithic elements, it is usually regarded as a »transitional« industry. As such, the development of a precise age model for the Szeletian would add substantial information to a period of population replacements in Europe. This concerns the timing of Neanderthal disappearance and their possible cohabitation with Anatomically Modern Humans in Central Europe. Previous age models for the Szeletian either suffered from deficiencies of dating methods and / or poor stratigraphic control of the dated samples. Therefore, population replacement models based on the key archaeological sequence of Szeleta Cave remain ambiguous. For this reason, we developed a new age model for the Szeletian sequence of this cave combined with a geoarchaeological investigation. Our new radiocarbon chronology, based on AMS 14C dating results of in situ bone and charcoal samples, lends support to the argument that the Szeletian does not represent a transition towards, but rather contemporaneity with the Early Upper Paleolithic. The Szeletian now appears to be of the same age as the Early Aurignacian in the region which is linked to the early Anatomically Modern Humans. Consequently, Neanderthals are the likely authors of the famous Szeletian leaf points – bifacially shaped implements that are important cultural markers for the Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition.