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Paleoanthropology in Greece: Recent Findings and Interpretations Read chapter Read first chapter

2016 | OriginalPaper | Chapter

12. A Route Through the Balkans and Implications for the Earliest Settlement of Europe

Author : Stefanka Ivanova

Published in: Paleoanthropology of the Balkans and Anatolia

Publisher: Springer Netherlands

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Abstract

Traces of settlement possibly dating to the Lower Paleolithic have recently been discovered in Bulgaria, including Kozarnika cave and surface sites from the Rhodope Mountains. Chopping tools, cores, flakes, and other stone tools are present in some flint assemblages. In rare cases, bifacial forms have been found. Based on their biostratigraphic position, the assemblages from Kozarnika are estimated to date from the period ranging between 1.6 Ma and 400 ka (Sirakov et al. 2010). This suggested dating is discussed here. The age of the surface sites in the Rhodope Mountains is estimated on the basis of the typo-technological characteristics and the stratigraphic location of the artifacts. The surface sites in the Western Rhodopes may date from the Middle Pleistocene, while the surface sites in the Eastern Rhodopes might be even older. The results of the research on Lower Paleolithic sites in Bulgaria are discussed in the framework of hypothesized repeated waves of dispersal towards Europe.

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previous chapter The Lower Paleolithic of Romania Revisited: New Evidence from the Site of Dealul Guran
next chapter The Lower Paleolithic in Turkey: Anatolia and Hominin Dispersals Out of Africa
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Metadata
Title
A Route Through the Balkans and Implications for the Earliest Settlement of Europe
Author
Stefanka Ivanova
Copyright Year
2016
Publisher
Springer Netherlands
Book
Paleoanthropology of the Balkans and Anatolia

Print ISBN: 978-94-024-0873-7

Electronic ISBN: 978-94-024-0874-4

Copyright Year: 2016

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-0874-4_12