The role of artifact surface scatters from the Western Morava Valley, Serbia in understanding human population movements during the Early Upper Paleolithic

Summary

There is strong evidence for the spread of anatomically modern humans (AMH) 45,000 to 35,000 years ago in Europe using two major migration routes: a northern one along the Danube River, and a southern one leading through Bulgaria and Greece. Despite being situated between these routes and near some of the earliest AMH sites in Europe, most of Serbia and the Central Balkans seem to lack evidence of these occupations. Part of the reason for this absence of evidence may be due to limited research on this time period in Serbia. This is especially the case with open air localities and artifact surface scatters. However, in areas such as Serbia and the Central Balkans, certain lithic artifacts from these scatters can serve as indirect evidence for early AMH occupations. In the last few years, the Western Morava River Valley in Central Serbia has been the focus of systematic survey and documentation of surface scatters. Survey data show that this region, while plentiful in Middle Paleolithic artifacts, lacks artifacts characteristic of early AMH. This poster discusses possible reasons for such a disjunction in the early AMH archaeological record of Central Serbia and the surrounding region.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage