The Mediterranean From 50,000 to 25,000 BP : Turning Points and New Directions

The passage between the periods which we call Middle and Upper Palaeolithic has long held a special fascination for Palaeolithic archaeologists, but over the past ten years or so it has gone right to the top of the list of 'hot' research topics. Underpinning it all is genuine and apparently enduring public interest in what actually happened at this point in human history. Why so much public interest? Well, it's us, isn't it? - bright, clever, intelligent modern humans replacing those tiresome and deeply flawed, if quite charming, Neanderthals. Modern behaviours, art, population explosion, economic revolution, all happening at once well, probably, or possibly well, maybe not. This book is a highly informative progress report on the state of current research concerning the passage from Middle to Upper Palaeolithic, focusing on the Mediterranean. Table of Contents Foreword ( Derek Roe ); Introduction ( Marta Camps and Carolyn Szmidt ); Where theres a will theres a way? 30 years of debate on the Mid-Upper Paleolithic transition in western Europe ( Marta Camps ); A crossed-glance between southern European and Middle-Near Eastern early Upper Palaeolithic lithic Existing models, new perspectives ( Foni Le Brun-Ricalens, Jean-Guillame Bordes and Laura Eizenberg ); The Middle-Upper Palaeolithic hiatus of insular north Africa ( Angela E. Close ); The evolutions and revolutions of the Late Middle Stone Age and Lower Later Stone Age in north-west Africa ( Elena A. A. Garcea ); Egypt from 50 to 25 ka a scarcely inhabited region? ( Pierre M. Vermeersch ); The shift from the Middle Palaeolithic to the Upper Levantine Perspectives ( Anna Belfer-Cohen and A. Nigel Goring-Morris ); The Palaeolithic of Turkey ( Marcel Otte and Isin Yalinkaya ); Mediterranean southeastern Europe in the Late Middle and Early Upper modern human route to Europe or Neanderthal refugium? ( Dimitria Papagianni ); The Early Upper Palaeolithic in past and current research ( Ildiko Horvath ); Adriatic coast of Croatia and its hinterland from 50 000 to 25 000 BP ( Ivor Karavanic ); Dating and Paleoenvironmental Interpretation of the late Pleistocene archaeological deposits at Divje Babe I, Slovenia ( Bonnie A. B. Blackwell, Edwin S. K. Yu, Anne R. Skinner, Ivan Turk, Joel I. B. Blickstein, Dragomir Skaberne, Janez Turk and Beverly Lau ); Early Upper Paleolithic population dynamics and raw material procurement patterns in Italy ( Julien Riel-Salvatore and Fabio Negrino ); From regional patterns to behavioural Assessing the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition in Mediterranean France ( Carolyn Szmidt ); Early evidence of the Aurignacian in Cantabrian Iberia and the North Pyrenees ( Alvaro Arrizabalaga, Federico Bernaldo de Quirs, Franois Bon, Mara-Jos Iriarte, Jos-Manuel Mallo and Christian Normand ); The Ebro frontier revisited ( Joo Zilho ); Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons in northern ongoing work at the Sopea Rock-shelter (Asturias, Spain) ( Ana C. Pinto-Llona, Goeffrey Clark, Alexandra Miller and Kaye Reed ); Whats in a name? Observations on the compositional integrity of the Aurignacian ( Geoffrey A. Clark and Julien Riel-Salvatore ); La confusion disentangling the archaeology of modern human dispersals in Europe ( Paul Mellars ) The passage between the periods which we call Middle and Upper Palaeolithic has long held a special fascination for Palaeolithic archaeologists, but over the past ten years or so it has gone right to the top of the list of ‘hot’ research topics. Underpinning it all is genuine and apparently enduring public interest in what actually happened at this point in human history. Why so much public interest? Well, it’s us, isn’t it? - bright, clever, intelligent modern humans replacing those tiresome and deeply flawed, if quite charming, Neanderthals. Modern behaviours, art, population explosion, economic revolution, all happening at once well, probably, or possibly well, maybe not. This book is a highly informative progress report on the state of current research concerning the passage from Middle to Upper Palaeolithic, focusing on the Mediterranean. Title Page 2 Copyright 3 Contents 4 Foreword 6 Introduction 13 Acknowledgments 18 List of Contributors 20 Contributors’ Addresses 25 Chapter 1: Where there’s a will there’s a way? 30 years of debate on the Mid-Upper Paleolithic transition in western Europe 30 Chapter 2: A crossed-glance between southern European and Middle-Near Eastern early Upper Palaeolithic lithic complexes: Existing models, new perspectives. 45 Chapter 3: The Middle-Upper Palaeolithic hiatus of insular north Africa 76 Chapter 4: The evolutions and revolutions of the Late Middle Stone Age and Lower Later Stone Age in north-west Africa 100 Chapter 5: Egypt from 50 to 25 ka BP: a scarcely inhabited region? 124 Chapter 6: The shift from the Middle Palaeolithic to the Upper Palaeolithic: Levantine Perspectives 156 Chapter 7: The Palaeolithic of Turkey 177 Chapter 8: Mediterranean southeastern Europe in the Late Middle and Early Upper Palaeolithic: modern human route to Europe or Neanderthal refugium? 200 Chapter 9: The Early Upper Palaeolithic in Romania: past and current research 232 Chapter 10: Adriatic coast of Croatia and its hinterland from 50 000 to 25 000 BP 267 Chapter 11: Dating and Paleoenvironmental Interpretation of the late Pleistocene archaeological deposits at Divje Babe I, Slovenia 288 Chapter 12: Early Upper Paleolithic population dynamics and raw material procurement patterns in Italy 337 Chapter 13: From regional patterns to behavioural interpretation: Assessing the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition in Mediterranean France 366 Chapter 14: Early evidence of the Aurignacian in Cantabrian Iberia and the North Pyrenees 400 Chapter 15: The Ebro frontier revisited 460 Chapter 16: Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons in northern Spain: ongoing work at the Sopeña Rock-shelter (Asturias, Spain) 486 Chapter 17: What’s in a name? Observations on the compositional integrity of the Aurignacian 502 Chapter 18: La confusion Aurignacienne: disentangling the archaeology of modern human dispersals in Europe 527 HISTORY,/,Ancient,/,General HISTORY / Ancient / General Foreword Derek Roe Introduction Marta Camps and Carolyn Szmidt Acknowledgments List of Contributors Contributors’ Addresses 1 Where there’s a will there’s a way? 30 years of debate on the Mid-Upper Paleolithic transition in western Europe Marta Camps 2 A crossed-glance between southern European and Middle-Near Eastern early Upper Palaeolithic lithic complexes: Existing models, new perspectives. Foni Le Brun-Ricalens, Jean-Guillame Bordes and Laura Eizenberg 3 The Middle-Upper Palaeolithic hiatus of insular north Africa Angela E. Close 4 The evolutions and revolutions of the Late Middle Stone Age and Lower Later Stone Age in north-west Africa Elena A. A. Garcea 5 Egypt from 50 to 25 ka BP: a scarcely inhabited region? Pierre M. Vermeersch 6 The shift from the Middle Palaeolithic to the Upper Palaeolithic: Levantine Perspectives Anna Belfer-Cohen and A. Nigel Goring-Morris 7 The Palaeolithic of Turkey Marcel Otte and Işin Yalçinkaya 8 Mediterranean southeastern Europe in the Late Middle and Early Upper Palaeolithic: modern human route to Europe or Neanderthal refugium? Dimitria Papagianni 9 The Early Upper Palaeolithic in Romania: past and current research Ildiko Horvath 10 Adriatic coast of Croatia and its hinterland from 50 000 to 25 000 BP Ivor Karavanić 11 Dating and Paleoenvironmental Interpretation of the late Pleistocene archaeological deposits at Divje Babe I, Slovenia Bonnie A. B. Blackwell, Edwin S. K. Yu, Anne R. Skinner, Ivan Turk, Joel I. B. Blickstein, Dragomir Skaberne, Janez Turk and Beverly Lau 12 Early Upper Paleolithic population dynamics and raw material procurement patterns in Italy Julien Riel-Salvatore and Fabio Negrino 13 From regional patterns to behavioural interpretation: Assessing the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition in Mediterranean France Carolyn Szmidt 14 Early evidence of the Aurignacian in Cantabrian Iberia and the North Pyrenees Alvaro Arrizabalaga, Federico Bernaldo de Quirós, François Bon, María-José Iriarte, José-Manuel Maíllo and Christian Normand 15 The Ebro frontier revisited João Zilhão 16 Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons in northern Spain: ongoing work at the Sopeña Rockshelter (Asturias, Spain) Ana C. Pinto-Llona, Goeffrey Clark, Alexandra Miller and Kaye Reed 17 What’s in a name? Observations on the compositional integrity of the Aurignacian Geoffrey A. Clark and Julien Riel-Salvatore 18 La confusion Aurignacienne: disentangling the archaeology of modern human dispersals in Europe Paul Mellars

The passage between the periods which we call Middle and Upper Palaeolithic has long held a special fascination for Palaeolithic archaeologists, but over the past ten years or so it has gone right to the top of the list of 'hot' research topics. Underpinning it all is genuine and apparently enduring public interest in what actually happened at this point in human history. Why so much public interest? Well, it's us, isn't it? - bright, clever, intelligent modern humans replacing those tiresome and deeply flawed, if quite charming, Neanderthals. Modern behaviours, art, population explosion, economic revolution, all happening at once well, probably, or possibly well, maybe not. This book is a highly informative progress report on the state of current research concerning the passage from Middle to Upper Palaeolithic, focusing on the Mediterranean.

"The aim of this book is to address the Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition in the broad Mediterranean region, through the examination of the nature and extent of behavioural changes and differences that took place from 50 000 to 25 000 BP."--Introduction