Middle Paleolithic sequences of the Ciemna Cave (Prądnik valley, Poland): The problem of synchronization

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Publication Date

2014

Publication Title

Quarternary International

Volume Number

326-327

Abstract

Ciemna Cave is a key Micoquian site located in Ojców National Park, in the southern part of the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland. The site is known for a distinct group of asymmetrical knives, prądniks, as well as the associated cultural assemblage, the “Prądnik industry” or “Micoquo-Prondnikiens”—both named after the Prądnik stream flowing through the valley. Excavation of Ciemna Cave carried out in the early twentieth century provided a series of stratified archaeological materials. The published sections indicated explicitly diverse sequences and contexts in various parts of the site. In Ogrójec (sector CO), a collapsed part of the cave, two cultural layers were recognized within loess deposit: an upper layer with Prądnik industry implements and a lower layer with Prądnik industry artifacts and mixture of older cultural units, including those with handaxes. A different situation was encountered at the entrance to the cave (sector C), where a much longer stratigraphic section with a few artifactually poor cultural levels was discovered. Current excavations began in 2007 targeted a new area of the cave chamber, with a primary goal of correlating geologic and cultural sequences from the previous excavations. At this stage a complete section has been exposed, which comprises 19 major geological layers and 9 archeological levels. The area has provided new lithics finds and chronological data that have allowed us to make preliminary cultural linkages.

Geographic Subject

Poland

Document Type

Article

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2014.01.002

Language

English

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