Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Volume 111, Issue 40, Pages 14394-14399Publisher
NATL ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1412201111
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Funding
- Leakey Foundation
- Max Planck Society
- University of Vienna
- Hugo Obermaier Society
- Federal Office for Scientific Affairs of the State of Belgium [Sc-004, Sc-09, MO/36/021]
- Hochschuljubilaumsfonds of the City of Vienna
- Rat fur Forschung und Technologieentwicklung [GZ 200.093/3-VI/1/04]
- Department of Prehistory of the Natural History Museum, Vienna, Austria
- Marktgemeinde Aggsbach
- Museumsverein Willendorf
- Satzl and Perzl families
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The first settlement of Europe by modern humans is thought to have occurred between 50,000 and 40,000 calendar years ago (cal B.P.). In Europe, modern human remains of this time period are scarce and often are not associated with archaeology or originate from old excavations with no contextual information. Hence, the behavior of the first modern humans in Europe is still unknown. Aurignacian assemblages-demonstrably made by modern humans-are commonly used as proxies for the presence of fully behaviorally and anatomically modern humans. The site of Willendorf II (Austria) is well known for its Early Upper Paleolithic horizons, which are among the oldest in Europe. However, their age and attribution to the Aurignacian remain an issue of debate. Here, we show that archaeological horizon 3 (AH 3) consists of faunal remains and Early Aurignacian lithic artifacts. By using stratigraphic, paleoenvironmental, and chronological data, AH 3 is ascribed to the onset of Greenland Interstadial 11, around 43,500 cal B.P., and thus is older than any other Aurignacian assemblage. Furthermore, the AH 3 assemblage overlaps with the latest directly radiocarbon-dated Neanderthal remains, suggesting that Neanderthal and modern human presence overlapped in Europe for some millennia, possibly at rather close geographical range. Most importantly, for the first time to our knowledge, we have a high-resolution environmental context for an Early Aurignacian site in Central Europe, demonstrating an early appearance of behaviorally modern humans in a mediumcold steppe-type environment with some boreal trees along valleys around 43,500 cal B.P.
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