- Source: Szeletian
The Szeleta Culture is a transitional archaeological culture between the Middle Paleolithic and the Upper Palaeolithic, found in Austria, Moravia, northern Hungary, and southern Poland. It is dated to 44,000 to 40,000 years ago, a period when both Neanderthals and modern humans were present in Europe. Most experts think that it is a Neanderthal culture, but the issue is debated. It is named after Szeleta Cave in the Bükk Mountains in Hungary.
It was preceded by the Bohunician (48,000–40,000 BP), and is roughly contemporary with the Aurignacian (43,000–26,000 BP) in France, and the Uluzzian (45,000–37,000 BP) in Italy. It was succeeded by the Gravettian (33,000–21,000 BP).
The initial excavation of the Szeletian cave was carried out from 1906 to 1913 by Ottocar Kadić. The idea of a distinctive Szeletian culture was advocated by the Czechoslovak archaeologist František Prošek (1922–1958).
It has been called the most original and also the most aboriginal Upper Palaeolithic culture in Central Europe. The findings are often interpreted in terms of the contemporaneity of Neanderthal and modern man, "as the product of acculturation at the boundary of Middle and Upper Paleolithic."
Lithic industry
The lithic industry is characterized by:
Bifacial foliated points and sidescrapers
Prismatic and discoid debitage
Presence of Micoquien hand axes
Later assemblages contain endscrapers and retouched blades.
Sites
In addition to the Szeletian cave in Hungary, assemblages have been found in Dzierzyslaw and Lubotyń (Poland), at Čertova Pec in Slovakia, and at Pod Hradem (Moravia).