The Beginning of the Early Upper Paleolithic in Poland

Research on the timing of Homo sapiens dispersals in Central Europe is pivotal for understanding the behavioral trajectories of human adaptation to low biomass environments and cold climates. Previous studies on the Early Upper Paleolithic of Poland described a different scenario from the European panorama characterized by the local development of a laminar/lamellar technology from the foregoing Middle Paleolithic and the coexistence of different Aurignacian variants after 35 ka BP. In this paper, we examine this technical diversity by reassessing and revising the chronological and technological information of the key Aurignacian sites in Poland. Our study reveals that the distinctive techno-typological features of the different Aurignacian types are most likely the result of the mixing of artifacts from different chronologies. In our view, Poland was visited intermittently by Homo sapiens since the Early Aurignacian. The deterioration of the climatic conditions during the second half of MIS 3 converted the Polish territories into a satellite area of the Aurignacian settlement system.