Nouvelles données sur le Szélétien en Pologne

Abstract

The territory of the Southern Poland marks the northern border of the Szeletian settlement. Within the territory of Poland, the Szeletian settlement is noted in three regions: Silesia, Krakow-Czestochowa Jurassic Highland Chain, and the Carpathians (Kozłowski, 2000). A single leaf point interpreted as Szeletian was also found in the east of Poland (fig. 1). The few Szeletian sites known from the excavations within the Polish territory indicated that the settlement was short-term and not intense. The exception is Dzierżysław site, interpreted as a base camp (J. K. Kozłowski, 2000; Fajer et al., 2005). Thus, Lubotyń 11 site in the SE part of the Głubczyce Plateau that has been being examined by us since 2006 merits more attention as this place is the richest Szeletian site found so far in Poland and also one of the best preserved within the whole area occupied by this culture. It is one of the very few that allow us not only to analyse archaeological materials but its environmental context as well. The camp in Luboty´n is a very typical example of a Palaeolithic site localisation taking advantage of all terrain features: situated along the route linking the south and north, an excellent vantage point – lying on the top of the highest elevation in the area – and rich flint outcrops in the direct vicinity of the site (fig. 2). A loess bed, in which the relics were deposited, protected the site and contributed to preservation of an occupation level of the camp and charcoals. The site occupies the top part of a moraine hill (309.8 m), connected with the Oder glaciation, built of gravel and sand formations intersected by frost wedges. The flint raw materials were obtained from these outcrops. In the loess bed, in some part of the excavated area a black layer very sated with charcoals was found, being the remnants of the occupation level of the camp. At least two hearths were identified in the layer. This layer and the loess covering it constitute the main source of artefacts (Bobak et al., in press; fig. 3 and 4). More than 5,000 flint objects come from the previous excavations. Artefacts (approximately 3,300) constitute an overwhelming majority. Almost all artefacts are made of flint found in the direct vicinity of the site or at the site. There are a few items made of other raw materials – a quartzite core, a quartzite flake and a single radiolarite flake – most probably of the southern origin. The structure of the inventory is typical for a basic site: core frequency (66 items) is less than 3%; the tools constitute a bit more than 6% (184 items); debitage dominates, with a very distinct predominance of flakes over blades. Regular flake cores dominate (42 items together with initial cores) or flake-blade cores (8 items). The proportion of blade cores is relatively high (18 items; fig. 5). The forms without preparation or with very limited preparation dominate. There are few discoidal cores (9 items) and one Levallois core. The group of tools consists of tools typical for Szeletian units (fig. 6). The tools made mainly from flakes, rarely from blades or from non-industrial pieces, include mostly non-characteristic flakes or bits, more rarely retouched flakes (50 and 12 respectively). Among the other types of tools, end-scrapers dominate (18 items). The next group of tools are side-scrapers (15 items), notched tools (10 items) and denticulate tools (7 items), a single splintered pieces, one atypical perforator and a raclette. There are no burins. The special group of tools are leaf points. There are only nine of them in the tool group, together with fragments and unfinished forms. It is difficult to determine points form. Most of them are preserved fragmentally. The points preserved intact have round bases. Bifacial retouch (partial) is a feature characteristic for the group, also on the other tools, mainly side-scrapers, retouched blades and flakes, as well as on end-scrapers. No bone remains were found in the previously surveyed area. However, we possess some paleobotanical data coming from the palynological analysis and results of the analysis of wood macroremains. The data show a very interesting picture. Among the few pollens, there is mainly birch (Betula), much less often pine (Pinus) and one alder pollen (Alnus). Shrubs are represented by a single dwarf birch pollen (Betula nana type), seabuckthorn (Hippophae) and juniper (Juniperus). All charcoals belong to pine (Pinus). We can talk about an environment of forest-tundra type, characteristic of the Hengelo interstadial in Poland (Bobak et al., in press). Radiocarbon dates coming from samples taken from both hearts confirm generally such age (fig. 7). But they cannot be unambiguously interpreted. So far, three dates within the range from 44000 ±3000 BP to 35100 ±800 BP come from the site. Two later dates (38000 ±1800 BP and 35000 ±800 BP) fit adequately into the Szeletian period, the dating 44000 ±3000 BP is too early. It might simply be wrong, which is suggested by a very wide range of standard error (3,000 years). Undoubtedly, the site in Luboty´n should be considered as one of the most important Szeletian sites in Central Europe taking into account archaeological and environmental data. The camp in Luboty´n is not the only site newly discovered in this region. In the vicinity two other sites have been revealed, at the moment known only from the surface surveys. At these sites, strong prerequisites indicating the presence of evidence of the Szeletian settlement were found. These include two sites in Pilszcz – sites 63 and 64 (Bobak and Połtowicz-Bobak, 2009). In each small flint assemblage, one point (or its semiproduct) has been found indicating with high probability its Szeletian origin (fig. 8). The accompanying artefacts are less characteristic, although some materials, in particular from site 63, have some technological and typological features that could be characteristic of assemblages from the beginning of the Upper Palaeolithic. It cannot be excluded that the surface site Dzier·zysław 79, previously interpreted by one of us as Aurignacian (Połtowicz, 2003 and 2006), should be attributed to the Szeletian culture (fig. 8). All the sites mentioned above are clustered in a very small and exceptionally important region, in the southern part of the Głubczyce Plateau. This region constitutes a direct foreground of the Moravian Gate, a lowland between the Carpathians and the Sudeten constituting the Oder Valley. During the Palaeolithic, the Gate was an important point linking the Southern Poland, mainly Silesia, with Moravia. Five Szeletian sites, mentioned above, are concentrated in the area less than 5 sq km. They were all were situated in a very similar geomorphologic environment: on exposed hills ensuring an excellent observation of the surrounding areas. The localisation indicates clearly their preferences in choosing the places to settle up their camps and also suggests that the settlement strategy was well-considered. The presence of this small but very significant concentration of sites appears to mark another important centre of the Szeletian settlement in Central Europe directly linked with the Moravia and confirms the importance of the Moravian Gate as the route linking Moravia and Silesia. Luboty´n site proves that the point was not sporadic and short-term expeditions to the north, but that here we (also?) deal with a more long-term, apparently multiple, process of settlement of these people. The presence of other sites suggests the intensive penetration of these areas.