Dealul Guran: evidence for Lower Paleolithic (MIS 11) occupation of the Lower Danube loess steppe (original) (raw)

Dealul Guran: evidence for Lower Paleolithic (MIS 11) occupation of the Lower Danube loess steppe

Eastern Europe holds a geographically important position as a potential crossroads for hominin migration. However, the quality and quantity of data from the Balkans and the eastern European steppe has thus far been insufficient to reliably evaluate dispersal models for the Middle Pleistocene. We present here new data from the site of Dealul Guran in southeastern Romania, discovered in 2010 during a systematic survey of the steppic landscape of the Lower Danube Basin (LoDanS Project). Hominin occupation of the site, preserved at three levels, was dated using luminescence techniques (OSL, IRSL and post-IR IRSL). The lower two archaeological units of the site yield ages most likely corresponding to marine isotope stage (MIS) 11, and therefore establish Dealul Guran as one of the oldest securely-dated Lower Paleolithic sites in Eastern Europe. The upper archaeological layers date to MIS 3 and 2, providing evidence for more recent hominin presence in the region, the earlier part of which corresponds to the time window relevant to the migration of modern humans into Europe. The earliest occupation phase confirms the middle Pleistocene antiquity of hominin settlement of the eastern European loess steppe. The Middle Pleistocene was characterized by increasingly open steppic environments in the region, and experienced relatively milder climates than areas further north and west within Europe. We discuss the role of southeastern Europe in Middle Pleistocene hominin dispersals, and hypothesize that the particularly thick and widespread loess cover throughout this region may have contributed to the relative paucity of known Lower Paleolithic archaeological sites.