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Exploring the Potential of the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic Site Korolevo II (Ukraine): New Results on Stratigraphy, Chronology and Archaeological Sequence

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Abstract

The site of Korolevo II in western Ukraine, located in the border area between central and eastern Europe, is mainly known for its Early Upper Palaeolithic assemblage, argued in the past to represent an assemblage at the transition from the Middle to the Upper Palaeolithic. Hence, the site holds a potential for a better understanding of the Middle to the Upper Palaeolithic transition and the replacement of Neanderthals by modern humans. Here we report on our new fieldwork between 2015 and 2017, which provided a new view on the stratigraphy, chronology and archaeological sequence of the site. We present a new assessment of the stratigraphy, new Upper Palaeolithic assemblages and first radiocarbon dates for some of them. Our results show the great potential of the site and contribute to a better understanding of a key sequence along the northern fringe of the Pannonian Basin. Of special interest is the assemblage of cultural layer D, adding to our understanding of the first Upper Palaeolithic assemblages and their diversity across western Eurasia.

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Data Availability

The datasets generated and/or analysed during the current study are included in the published article. The materials collected during fieldwork and analysed during the current study are curated at the Museum of Archaeology, Institute of Archaeology, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the following individuals for fieldwork support and/or discussion of data and drafts of this manuscript: L. Kulakovska, V. Schmid, C. Andrews, Y. Hilbert, M. Shemonia, A. Kordunian, O. Votyakova and P. Vasyliev. We are greatly indebted to three reviewers; their comments improved this paper.

Funding

Fieldwork was supported by the following grants to P.R.N.: EC FP7 Marie Curie Career Integration Grant no. 322261 (NEMO-ADAP Project), Leakey Foundation General Grant (spring 2012 granting cycle), D.M. McDonald Grants and Awards Fund grant, Isaac Newton Trust Small Grant, Isaac Newton Trust Matching Funding Grant and British Academy/Leverhulme Trust Small Grant. During the manuscript preparation P.R.N. was supported by grants from the University of Vienna and the government of Lower Austria (Wissenschaft & Forschung). During the preparation of this manuscript V.I.U. was supported by the Researchers at Risk Fellowship of the Czech Academy of Sciences. The radiocarbon dating was supported by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic (MEYS) within project No. CZ.02.1.01 /0.0/0.0/16_019/0000728.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Archaeology, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kiev, Ukraine

    Vitaly I. Usyk

  2. Institute of Archaeology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Brno, Czech Republic

    Vitaly I. Usyk

  3. Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Kiev, Ukraine

    Natalia Gerasimenko

  4. Nuclear Physics Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Husinec-Řež, Czech Republic

    Roman Garba

  5. Institute of Archaeology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic

    Roman Garba

  6. Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Brussels, Belgium

    Freddy Damblon

  7. Department of Prehistoric and Historical Archaeology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

    Philip R. Nigst

  8. Human Evolution and Archaeological Sciences (HEAS), University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

    Philip R. Nigst

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Contributions

V.I.U. and P.R.N. designed research and conducted fieldwork. V.I.U., N.G., F.D., R.G. and P.R.N. generated and analysed data. V.I.U. and P.R.N. wrote first draft with input from all co-authors. All authors contributed to and approved final version.

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Usyk, V.I., Gerasimenko, N., Garba, R. et al. Exploring the Potential of the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic Site Korolevo II (Ukraine): New Results on Stratigraphy, Chronology and Archaeological Sequence. J Paleo Arch 6, 16 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41982-023-00144-0

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