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The Middle Palaeolithic of Present Day Romania: a Critical Review

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The Middle Palaeolithic of Present Day Romania: a Critical Review THE MIDDLE PALAEOLITHIC OF PRESENT DAY ROMANIA: A CRITICAL REVIEW by CORNEL MARIAN POP B.A., The University of British Columbia, 2010 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES (Anthropology) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) April 2013 ©Cornel Marian Pop, 2013 Abstract This thesis presents a critical review of research on the Middle Palaeolithic record of present day Romania. Through an analysis of the historical development of the discipline as well as qualitative and quantitative assessments of the published data, I argue that despite a history of research that spans over a century, the Romanian Middle Palaeolithic record is poorly understood, even from a culture historical perspective. Although over 240 locations with potential Middle Palaeolithic finds have been identified to date, of which 120 have yielded artifacts confidently classified as Middle Palaeolithic, only approximately 21 of these have been systematically excavated and adequately published. These sites constitute a sample shown to evidence statistically significant patterns that are most likely a reflection of research bias rather than underlying archaeological phenomena. Nevertheless, through a careful exploratory analysis of the data promising directions for future research are identified, as well as a series of patterns which reveal that Neanderthal populations likely had limited adaptive capacities that rendered them unable to cope with the harshest climatic regimes. Based on currently available figures, Romania appears to have been sparsely populated by Neanderthals throughout, its Middle Palaeolithic record yielding less than approximately 100,000 lithic artifacts (including debris), the majority of which were recovered from but two levels at a single site: Ripiceni-Izvor. ii Preface This thesis is original and independent work by the author, Cornel M. Pop. iii Table of Contents Abstract ..................................................................................................................................................... ii Preface ..................................................................................................................................................... iii Table of Contents ..................................................................................................................................... iv List of Tables ............................................................................................................................................. vi List of Figures .......................................................................................................................................... vii Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................ viii Dedication ................................................................................................................................................ ix 1. Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 1 2. Data and Methods ............................................................................................................................. 4 3. A brief history of Romanian Middle Palaeolithic research ............................................................... 6 3.1. Early Palaeolithic research in Romania ..................................................................................... 6 3.1.1. Márton Roska (1880-1961) ............................................................................................... 7 3.1.2. Nicolae Moroşan (1902-1944) .......................................................................................... 8 3.1.3. C. S. Nicolăescu-Plopşor (1900-1968) and the early socialist period ................................ 9 3.2. Research after Nicolăescu-Plopşor .........................................................................................14 3.3. Research after socialism ..........................................................................................................17 3.4. Summary .................................................................................................................................17 4. The Romanian Middle Palaeolithic record as it is known today .....................................................18 4.1. General overview ....................................................................................................................18 4.2. Chronology ..............................................................................................................................22 4.3. Fauna and Homo remains .......................................................................................................24 4.4. Lithic Industries .......................................................................................................................25 4.4.1. Typical Mousterian ..........................................................................................................25 4.4.2. Mousterian of Acheulean Tradition (MTA) .....................................................................26 4.4.3. Denticulate Mousterian ..................................................................................................27 4.4.4. Eastern Charentian or “Quartzitic Mousterian” ..............................................................27 4.5. Summary .................................................................................................................................29 5. A quantitative assessment of the Romanian Middle Palaeolithic record .......................................30 5.1. General overview ....................................................................................................................32 5.2. Climate and the distribution of sites .......................................................................................35 iv 5.3. Raw materials and assemblage variability ..............................................................................37 5.4. Summary .................................................................................................................................46 6. Conclusions .....................................................................................................................................47 Works Cited .............................................................................................................................................50 Appendix A: A partial database of the Romanian Middle Palaeolithic record........................................57 Database goals and availability: ..........................................................................................................57 Variable selection criteria: ..................................................................................................................58 Database structure and contents: .......................................................................................................59 Variable definitions: ............................................................................................................................59 Primary variables: ............................................................................................................................59 Auxiliary variables: ..........................................................................................................................65 v List of Tables Table 1: Distribution of different raw material types across levels excavated at open-air and cave sites .....................................................................................................................................................................35 Table 2: Distribution of predominant raw material types across levels deposited in different climatic contexts .......................................................................................................................................................35 Table 3: The distribution of climatic conditions across the different levels and sites for which valid data is available. .....................................................................................................................................................37 vi List of Figures Figure 1: Composite map of Romania showing: a) the location of the 21 adequately researched sites analyzed in this thesis, b) a kernel density map of the 120 locations where lithics attributable with confidence to the Middle Palaeolithic have been found, and c) the distribution of karst formations. .....22 Figure 2: Distribution of Middle Palaeolithic levels across the 21 sites analyzed in this thesis. ................33 Figure 3a,b: Incidence of formal tools (a) and the diversity of tool types (b) across levels characterized by the use of different raw material types. ................................................................................................41 Figure 4a,b: Ratio of retouched pieces to platform remnant bearing flakes (PRBs) across levels characterized by the use of different raw material types...........................................................................43 Figure 5a,b: Relationship between the percentage of retouched pieces and the volumetric density of lithics. ..........................................................................................................................................................44
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