Upper Paleolithic remains from Šandalja Cave, Istria, Croatia (original) (raw)
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The Sandalja II site has yielded skeletal remains of at least three individuals found in association with numerous Late Upper Paleolithic (Epigravettian) stone tools and animal bones. It is the only Epigravettian site in Croatia that has yielded human remains. Analyses of the Sandalja discoveries add to our understanding of the morphological and behavioural patterns of the Late Upper Paleolithic inhabitants of this region. They provide us with a basis for comparison with not only contemporary humans of the Italian coastal region, which in the Late Pleistocene formed a single ecological zone with the Croatian coast, but also with Upper Paleolithic humans from other adjacent regions, which belonged to different ecological zones. Based on dental, cranial and postcranial metrics, the Sandalja II people were rather small compared to the comparative Upper Paleolithic samples and specimens. The associated late Epigravettian industry from the B/s layer of the site shows similarities in basi...
The cultural and/or skeletal remains have been found on many Quaternary sites in Croatia: while Šandalja I has provided the evidence for human existance during the Early Pleistocene, the Late Pleistocene, Early Postglacial and Holocene localities with the corresponding material culture as well as faunal communities are more frequent, but - due to the literature published mainly in Croatian - poorly known. Thus, we have made a catalogue of the fossil sites and have listed all the localities after their geographical position in Pannonian, Central and Adriatic part of Croatia. Despite the fact that many localities include also older and/or younger occupation levels, we have treated only these belonging to the OIS 2 and 3, with all available dates, our comments, results of newest investigations, and main references for each site separately. As the result, the main characteristics of the Upper Pleistocene settlement of Croatia with location maps of the Mousterian, Aurignacian, Gravettian...
The Late Pleistocene sediments of Vindija Cave, NW Croatia, yield paleontological and archaeological finds that have an important role in understanding the patterns of late Neandertal/early modern human interaction and succession. The youngest securely dated Neandertal remains in Europe, found in association with an archaeological assemblage exhibiting a mixture of Middle and Upper Paleolithic elements, come from the G complex of this site. Assessments of both old and new data, as well as the results of newer analyses on the finds from Vindija are discussed in the light of the new revision of chronostratigraphic sequences of several important European sites. Further, the new genomic data obtained from the Vindija sample is included in a discussion on the problems, results and patterns of Late Pleistocene hominin evolution and possible population interaction patterns between Neandertals and early modern humans in Europe.
In the attempt to understand culture and social behavior of prehistoric populations, findings of personal ornaments are of particular interest. Personal ornaments in their formal expressions (marine shells and snails, river snails, animal teeth, modified animal bones etc.) not only point to an universal idea of decoration and aesthetic sensibility, but may also reveal contact zones and communication paths. Perforated animal teeth, mostly deer canines, reveal us not only symbolic, but also some important sociocultural aspects of behavior of prehistoric populations. In order to test whether there are universals in display modes and materials used in this region, we will use the finds of personal ornaments from the Upper Paleolithic strata from five Istrian sites: Ljubićeva cave, Pupićina cave, Romualdova cave, Šandalja II, and Vešanska cave.