Palaeoenvironmental Background and Age of the Late Palaeolithic Settlement in SE Poland (A Case Study from the Sandomierz Upland and Carpathians)

The aim of the natural investigations carried out in two archaeological sites in the SE Poland was to determine their TL age (15 samples) and characterize the vegetation cover with the use of pollen analysis (10 samples) of loess and loess-like deposits sampled in the sites and their close environs. Micromorphological features of loess were examined in one of the sites. The research was carried out in a Late Magdalenian site near Wilczyce village in the eastern part of the Sandomierz Upland, and in a Final Palaeolithic site, with the widry Culture materials, near of Mucharz village in the eastern margin of the Small Beskid Mts, flysch Outer Carpathians. Both sites are situated in the Vistula River basin (mountain and upland section), in immediate vicinity of river valleys, i.e. Opatówka and Skawa River, respectively. They are located on high riverbanks, in exposed places that were good observation points. The Magdalenian site was TL dated at about 15 ka BP that corresponds well with the results of radiocarbon dating. The site was surrounded by a mosaic of different vegetation typical of quite cold climate habitats: wet tundra communities, dry steppe with xerophytes, and patches of coniferous trees. The TL dates obtained for the site with the widry Culture materials ranged from 10.3 to 11.02 ka BP (Dryas III). Tundra communities with Selaginella s. occurred in park-type landscape but the vegetation succession changed after settlement retreat. Coniferous forests with an admixture of birch, next hazel (macroremnants) and alder developed.