Late Middle Paleolithic and Early Upper Paleolithic of the Western Balkans: lithic assemblages from Šalitrena Pećina (Serbia)

Šalitrena Pećina represents one of the key multi-occupational sites for studying the late Middle and early Upper Paleolithic in the Peripannonian region of the Northern Balkans. Here we present the findings from the cave entrance and the new (ESR) dates obtained for the Middle Paleolithic sequence of the site. The Middle Paleolithic layers (6e-6a), dated between the end of MIS 5 (c. 77 ka) to c. 40 ka, contained Mousterian assemblages with a moderately prominent Levallois component, in which the Quina aspect is completely absent. A rich Upper Paleolithic artifact assemblage attributed to the Middle Aurignacian was collected from Layer 5, which has been radiometrically dated to 36–33 ka cal BP. The assemblage contains narrow front burin-like cores, twisted and straight bladelets, and different tool types – including burins and retouched blades. The Mousterian and Aurignacian chronology of the Šalitrena Pećina and the data on other Paleolithic sites in the region support the notion that the expansion of modern humans towards the Central and Western Europe occurred along the Danube and Sava corridors and that Neanderthal groups survived longer in the western than in the eastern part of the Balkan peninsula.