A 15,000-year history of Early Upper Paleolithic hunters moving through the Pustý Žleb valley – Artefacts and chronology of Pod Hradem Cave, Moravian Karst, Czech Republic

Abstract

Archaeological evidence shows that Paleolithic hunters occasionally used the difficult-to-access Pod Hradem Cave for short-term visits. The small collection of artefacts spanning a c. 15,000-year period were made from a range of different raw materials collected from known sources in the surrounding regions up to 120 km away. In this paper, we interpret the sum of the archaeological evidence associated with artefacts from Pod Hradem Cave against an updated chronology, and report a previously unpublished stone artefact. Combined, this information suggests variable cave use throughout the site history. During the Early-Upper Paleolithic this likely involved visits by small, mobile bands using Pod Hradem Cave as a short stop over while passing through the Pustý Žleb valley.