New results of the 2013-2016 fieldwork at Mitoc-Malu galben, Romania

The impact of changing climate on Upper Palaeolithic humans is a heavily debated topic and key to understand variability and change in Upper Palaeolithic material culture. To contribute to a better understanding of the timing and environmental context of changes in material culture, we need to focus on archaeological sites with a long sequence, secure climatic context, and abundant archaeology. In Eastern Europe, one of these sites is Mitoc-Malu Galben (Romania) with a semi-continuous loess-paleosol record from ~32 to 20 ka uncal BP. Embedded in this sequence are multiple Aurignacian and Gravettian archaeological horizons. Between 2013 and 2016 a international team re-excavated the site and focused on small excavations using high-resolution excavation and documentation methods and applied an interdisciplinary approach to the analysis of the materials and their context. Here, we present our new results focusing on the lithic technology of two Aurignacinan and two Gravettian archaeological horizons. In particular, we present an Aurignacian assemblage which is securely dated to 27.8 ka uncal BP (Greenland Interstadial 5), and discuss implications of this evidence in a regional context.