Jankovichian, Szeletian or a leaf point industry: Analysis of three small lithic assamblages

Abstract

The eponymous site of the Jankovichian industry was found at the Oreg kő cliff, in the northern part of the Transdanubia, Western Hungary. From the thick layer complex of the Jankovich cave, however, only 104 lithics were collected and the scarce data showed that the pieces belong to several archaeological entities. At the same time, the nearly total lack of the field documentation allowed the reconstruction of the stratigraphic position of each artefact only in a few cases.The stratigraphic integrity is missing from the archaeological material of the Kiskevely and Szelim caves as well as the Csakvar rock shelter, and according to the recent evaluations the bifacial tools from the Dzerava skala (Palffy cave) and Lovas belong to the Micoquian and the Late Palaeolithic period. In this paper we analyse the following three assemblages, excavated after World War II in Transdanubia: the Pilisszanto rock shelter II, the Bivak and the Remete Felső caves.The chronological, basically, bio-stratigraphic data known from these layers are also evaluated.The conclusion of the study is that (1) the chronological data of the studied sites do not permit to place the archaeological occupation of each cave into the Early Wurm or to the Late Middle Palaeolithic period and (2) the validity of a distinct Jankovichian industry cannot be proved.