Recent Excavations and Research on Lithic Technology of the Swabian Aurignacian

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Examining Spatial-Temporal Variation in the Lithic Technology of the Early Upper Paleolithic" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The study of the Swabian Aurignacian goes back to fieldwork in the 1880s in Bockstein Cave in the Lone Valley. Subsequent generations of archaeologists have excavated well-known sites including Hohlenstein-Stadel and Vogelherd in the Lone Valley and Geißenklösterle, Hohle Fels, and Sirgenstein in the Ach Valley. Over the last three decades, yearly excavations by the University of Tübingen in the Ach and Lone valleys have greatly improved our understanding of the cultural and chronostratigraphy of the Swabian Aurignacian. In addition to the famous discoveries of numerous figurative artworks, personal ornaments and musical instruments, this fieldwork has greatly expanded the size and improved the context of the lithic assemblages from this period dating between ca. 42 and 35 ka BP. In 2017, based primarily on the importance of the Swabian Aurignacian, UNESCO granted the caves of the Ach and Lone valleys World Cultural Heritage status. This paper reviews the history of research on the region’s Aurignacian lithic technology and summarizes where research stands today, while highlighting the unique importance of the Swabian record of technological innovation at the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic in the Upper Danube drainage.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Examining Spatial-Temporal Variation in the Lithic Technology of the Early Upper Paleolithic   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 38094.0