Taxonomy of the Early Middle Palaeolithic in Central Europe

Janusz K. Kozłowski*

* Institute of Archaeology, Jagiellonian University, ul. Golębia 11, 31007 Kraków, Poland


Cite as Kozłowski, J. K. (2016) Taxonomy of the Early Middle Palaeolithic in Central Europe (A korai középső paleolitikum kulturális tagolódása Közép-Európában). Litikum – Journal of the Lithic Research Roundtable, 4, pp. 23–32. https://doi.org/10.23898/litikuma0016

Abstract. The objective of this paper is the analysis of cultural diversification in Central Europe, in the Penultimate Glaciation (MIS 8–6) on the basis of techno-morphological criteria. Using the taxonomic analysis of culture units in the Early Phase of the Middle Palaeolithic a hypothesis has been proposed that claims a complex, polycentric origin of some of the distinguished units that employed Levallois technology and bifacial tools such as Micoquian Keilmesser and leaf-points. The phylogenetic processes registered in the Early Phases of the Middle Palaeolithic determined the cultural diversity in the Late Phase of this time interval (from the Last Interglacial – MIS 5 – to the middle of the Interpleniglacial – MIS 3).

Keywords: Middle Palaeolithic, Penultimate Glaciation, Mousterian, Micoquian, Levallois technology

Data availability statement: The author confirms that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article [and/or] its supplementary materials.

Disclosure statement: No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Funding statement: The author received no financial support for the research and/or the publication of this article.

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