Middle and Upper Paleolithic of the southern Pannonian Basin: Lithic assemblages from Petrovaradin Fortress (Novi Sad, Serbia)

Rescue excavations of Petrovaradin Fortress in Novi Sad (Serbia), conducted at several different locations, revealed loess layers with Middle and Upper Paleolithic lithic material, which were dated using optically stimulated luminescence (OSL). The c. 90 ka old Layer 2b contained Middle Paleolithic massive bifacially flaked sidescrapers, similar to the types documented in the early Micoquian of the Pannonian Basin. Layer 2a, dated to about 43–40 ka, yielded an artifact assemblage with Levallois and Quina components present, while Layer 1, in the southeastern sector of the site, contained numerous Gravettian artifacts. Based on OSL dating, the Gravettian layer is estimated to be between 31 and 26 thousand years old, aligning with the radiocarbon age of approximately 28 thousand years cal BP. The archaeological materials recovered from the Petrovaradin Fortress site provided completely new insights into the Palaeolithic of the southern Pannonian Basin, showing that Middle Paleolithic industries with bifacial tools, typically found in northern regions, are also present in the southern parts of the basin. The dating results showed that there is a possibility that the Central European Quina industries persisted into the late Middle Paleolithic, just before the appearance of the early Upper Paleolithic. Lastly, the southern Pannonian and Peripannonian areas (where several Gravettian sites have been investigated) were densely populated immediately before the beginning of the Last Glacial Maximum.