ABSTRACT
Stratified cave site in the Balkan Mountains of Bulgaria with three Mousterian and 10 Upper Paleolithic layers. Layers 14 through 12 contained lithic inventories assigned to the Charentian and Typical Mousterian. Two fragments of bone from Layer 12 appear to have been intentionally engraved. The Upper Paleolithic layers contain numerous faunal remains of both herbivores and carnivores; blade-tool assemblages predominantly fashioned of nonlocal flint, basalt, and quartzite; bone tools, including bone points; and bone jewelry. Remains of hearths have been found in these layers as well. A series of radiocarbon dates for the different layers indicate that Upper Paleolithic inventories from Layer 11, dated to more than 43 Ka (and perhaps as old as 60-45 Ka), represent some of the earliest securely dated Late Paleolithic remains in Europe. Assemblages from Layers 11 on have been classified as Bachokirian, a regional variant of the Auri-gnacian. Hominid remains from the Upper Paleolithic layers, consisting of fragments of a neurocranium, two mandibles with teeth, and five single teeth, possess some primitive characteristics and may represent somewhat archaic modern humans or possibly forms transitional between the Neanderthals and fully modern Homo sapiens.
