TY  - CONF
AU  - Borić, Dušan
AU  - Cristiani, Emanuela
AU  - Hopkins, Rachel
AU  - Higham, Thomas
AU  - Schwenninger, Jean-Luc
AU  - Gerometta, Katarina
AU  - Frenc, Charly A. I.
AU  - Zupancich, Andrea
AU  - Mutri, Giuseppina
AU  - Ćalić, Jelena
AU  - Dimitrijević, Vesna
AU  - Masciana, Alana
AU  - Uno, Kevin
AU  - Korzow Richter, Kristine
AU  - Antonović, Dragana
PY  - 2022
UR  - http://rai.ai.ac.rs/handle/123456789/1271
AB  - Over the past few years, new investigations in northern Bulgaria at the site of Bacho Kiro have revived the likelihood that the "Danube corridor" route served as a primary axis for the dispersal of modern humans into Europe. The association of modern humans with material remains of Protoaurignacian and Aurignacian provenance and/or transitional industries, would push the start of the dispersal across this region to 47 ka. Furthermore, fossil remains from the cave site of Peștera cu Oase in the Romanian hinterland of the Danube Gorges area of the north-central Balkans provide genetic evidence of admixtures between Neanderthal and modern human populations that might have taken place precisely along this transitory corridor. Yet, there is still relatively little in the way of evidence about, on the one hand, the last Middle Palaeolithic, and by proxy Neanderthal, and, on the other hand, the Initial and Early Upper Palaeolithic, and by proxy modern human, settlement of the region. Our recent investigations in the Danube Gorges area have brought to light two new sites, Tabula Traiana Cave and Dubočka-Kozja Cave, with Middle to Upper Palaeolithic deposits. The application of modern standards of recovery and recording have enabled us to apply a suite of cutting edge and state-of-the-art methodologies backed by extensive radiometric dating of these sites’ deposits. In this paper, we will present most recently obtained radiocarbon accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) measurements, which allow us to discuss the chronological attribution of different levels of the two sites with more certainty. We will also offer further details regarding the knapped stone assemblages, including the results of use-wear analyses on a select number of artefacts. Finally, this evidence is integrated with the results obtained through the analyses of the faunal assemblages and by characterizing taphonomic factors that impacted their formation. Complementary data come from a relatively large pool of unidentifiable bone samples analyzed through the application of proteomic fingerprinting known as the Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS), which has allowed us to better characterize the animal taxa composition of the faunal assemblages from the two sites and identify agents of bone accumulation. The results indicate a late continuation of the Middle Palaeolithic presence characterized by a Levallois-derived lithic industry at one of the two sites and the broadly contemporaneous appearance of the Early Upper Palaeolithic tools in the lithic assemblage of the other site. We discuss how the locations of the two sites in this specific landscape zone along the Danube might have influenced their respective uses.
PB  - Tübingen : Paleoanthropology Society; European Society for the study of Human Evolution
C3  - 12th Annual Meeting of the European Society for the study of Human Evolution 2022 Meeting, Tübingen, Germany, 21st - 25th of September 2022. PaleoAnthropology 2022:2
T1  - New evidence for the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition interval in the Danube Gorges of the Balkans
EP  - 436
SP  - 436
DO  - 10.48738/2022.iss2.809
ER  - 

@conference{
author = "Borić, Dušan and Cristiani, Emanuela and Hopkins, Rachel and Higham, Thomas and Schwenninger, Jean-Luc and Gerometta, Katarina and Frenc, Charly A. I. and Zupancich, Andrea and Mutri, Giuseppina and Ćalić, Jelena and Dimitrijević, Vesna and Masciana, Alana and Uno, Kevin and Korzow Richter, Kristine and Antonović, Dragana",
year = "2022",
abstract = "Over the past few years, new investigations in northern Bulgaria at the site of Bacho Kiro have revived the likelihood that the "Danube corridor" route served as a primary axis for the dispersal of modern humans into Europe. The association of modern humans with material remains of Protoaurignacian and Aurignacian provenance and/or transitional industries, would push the start of the dispersal across this region to 47 ka. Furthermore, fossil remains from the cave site of Peștera cu Oase in the Romanian hinterland of the Danube Gorges area of the north-central Balkans provide genetic evidence of admixtures between Neanderthal and modern human populations that might have taken place precisely along this transitory corridor. Yet, there is still relatively little in the way of evidence about, on the one hand, the last Middle Palaeolithic, and by proxy Neanderthal, and, on the other hand, the Initial and Early Upper Palaeolithic, and by proxy modern human, settlement of the region. Our recent investigations in the Danube Gorges area have brought to light two new sites, Tabula Traiana Cave and Dubočka-Kozja Cave, with Middle to Upper Palaeolithic deposits. The application of modern standards of recovery and recording have enabled us to apply a suite of cutting edge and state-of-the-art methodologies backed by extensive radiometric dating of these sites’ deposits. In this paper, we will present most recently obtained radiocarbon accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) measurements, which allow us to discuss the chronological attribution of different levels of the two sites with more certainty. We will also offer further details regarding the knapped stone assemblages, including the results of use-wear analyses on a select number of artefacts. Finally, this evidence is integrated with the results obtained through the analyses of the faunal assemblages and by characterizing taphonomic factors that impacted their formation. Complementary data come from a relatively large pool of unidentifiable bone samples analyzed through the application of proteomic fingerprinting known as the Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS), which has allowed us to better characterize the animal taxa composition of the faunal assemblages from the two sites and identify agents of bone accumulation. The results indicate a late continuation of the Middle Palaeolithic presence characterized by a Levallois-derived lithic industry at one of the two sites and the broadly contemporaneous appearance of the Early Upper Palaeolithic tools in the lithic assemblage of the other site. We discuss how the locations of the two sites in this specific landscape zone along the Danube might have influenced their respective uses.",
publisher = "Tübingen : Paleoanthropology Society; European Society for the study of Human Evolution",
journal = "12th Annual Meeting of the European Society for the study of Human Evolution 2022 Meeting, Tübingen, Germany, 21st - 25th of September 2022. PaleoAnthropology 2022:2",
title = "New evidence for the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition interval in the Danube Gorges of the Balkans",
pages = "436-436",
doi = "10.48738/2022.iss2.809"
}

Borić, D., Cristiani, E., Hopkins, R., Higham, T., Schwenninger, J., Gerometta, K., Frenc, C. A. I., Zupancich, A., Mutri, G., Ćalić, J., Dimitrijević, V., Masciana, A., Uno, K., Korzow Richter, K.,& Antonović, D.. (2022). New evidence for the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition interval in the Danube Gorges of the Balkans. in 12th Annual Meeting of the European Society for the study of Human Evolution 2022 Meeting, Tübingen, Germany, 21st - 25th of September 2022. PaleoAnthropology 2022:2
Tübingen : Paleoanthropology Society; European Society for the study of Human Evolution., 436-436.
https://doi.org/10.48738/2022.iss2.809

Borić D, Cristiani E, Hopkins R, Higham T, Schwenninger J, Gerometta K, Frenc CAI, Zupancich A, Mutri G, Ćalić J, Dimitrijević V, Masciana A, Uno K, Korzow Richter K, Antonović D. New evidence for the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition interval in the Danube Gorges of the Balkans. in 12th Annual Meeting of the European Society for the study of Human Evolution 2022 Meeting, Tübingen, Germany, 21st - 25th of September 2022. PaleoAnthropology 2022:2. 2022;:436-436.
doi:10.48738/2022.iss2.809 .

Borić, Dušan, Cristiani, Emanuela, Hopkins, Rachel, Higham, Thomas, Schwenninger, Jean-Luc, Gerometta, Katarina, Frenc, Charly A. I., Zupancich, Andrea, Mutri, Giuseppina, Ćalić, Jelena, Dimitrijević, Vesna, Masciana, Alana, Uno, Kevin, Korzow Richter, Kristine, Antonović, Dragana, "New evidence for the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition interval in the Danube Gorges of the Balkans" in 12th Annual Meeting of the European Society for the study of Human Evolution 2022 Meeting, Tübingen, Germany, 21st - 25th of September 2022. PaleoAnthropology 2022:2 (2022):436-436,
https://doi.org/10.48738/2022.iss2.809 . .

TY  - JOUR
AU  - Cristiani, Emanuela
AU  - Radini, Anita
AU  - Zupancich, Andrea
AU  - Gismondi, Angelo
AU  - D'Agostino, Alessia
AU  - Ottoni, Claudio
AU  - Carra, Marialetizia
AU  - Vukojičić, Snežana
AU  - Constantinescu, Mihai
AU  - Antonović, Dragana
AU  - Price, Douglas T.
AU  - Borić, Dušan
PY  - 2021
UR  - http://rai.ai.ac.rs/handle/123456789/374
AB  - Forager focus on wild cereal plants has been documented in the core zone of domestication in southwestern Asia, while evidence for forager use of wild grass grains remains sporadic elsewhere. In this paper, we present starch grain and phytolith analyses of dental calculus from 60 Mesolithic and Early Neolithic individuals from five sites in the Danube Gorges of the central Balkans. This zone was inhabited by likely complex Holocene foragers for several millennia before the appearance of the first farmers similar to 6200 cal BC. We also analyzed forager ground stone tools (GSTs) for evidence of plant processing. Our results based on the study of dental calculus show that certain species of Poaceae (species of the genus Aegi(ops) were used since the Early Mesolithic, while GSTs exhibit traces of a developed grass grain processing technology. The adoption of domesticated plants in this region after similar to 6500 cal BC might have been eased by the existing familiarity with wild cereals.
PB  - Elife Sciences Publ Ltd, Cambridge
T2  - ELIFE
T1  - Wild cereal grain consumption among Early Holocene foragers of the Balkans predates the arrival of agriculture
VL  - 10
DO  - 10.7554/eLife.72976
ER  - 

@article{
author = "Cristiani, Emanuela and Radini, Anita and Zupancich, Andrea and Gismondi, Angelo and D'Agostino, Alessia and Ottoni, Claudio and Carra, Marialetizia and Vukojičić, Snežana and Constantinescu, Mihai and Antonović, Dragana and Price, Douglas T. and Borić, Dušan",
year = "2021",
abstract = "Forager focus on wild cereal plants has been documented in the core zone of domestication in southwestern Asia, while evidence for forager use of wild grass grains remains sporadic elsewhere. In this paper, we present starch grain and phytolith analyses of dental calculus from 60 Mesolithic and Early Neolithic individuals from five sites in the Danube Gorges of the central Balkans. This zone was inhabited by likely complex Holocene foragers for several millennia before the appearance of the first farmers similar to 6200 cal BC. We also analyzed forager ground stone tools (GSTs) for evidence of plant processing. Our results based on the study of dental calculus show that certain species of Poaceae (species of the genus Aegi(ops) were used since the Early Mesolithic, while GSTs exhibit traces of a developed grass grain processing technology. The adoption of domesticated plants in this region after similar to 6500 cal BC might have been eased by the existing familiarity with wild cereals.",
publisher = "Elife Sciences Publ Ltd, Cambridge",
journal = "ELIFE",
title = "Wild cereal grain consumption among Early Holocene foragers of the Balkans predates the arrival of agriculture",
volume = "10",
doi = "10.7554/eLife.72976"
}

Cristiani, E., Radini, A., Zupancich, A., Gismondi, A., D'Agostino, A., Ottoni, C., Carra, M., Vukojičić, S., Constantinescu, M., Antonović, D., Price, D. T.,& Borić, D.. (2021). Wild cereal grain consumption among Early Holocene foragers of the Balkans predates the arrival of agriculture. in ELIFE
Elife Sciences Publ Ltd, Cambridge., 10.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.72976

Cristiani E, Radini A, Zupancich A, Gismondi A, D'Agostino A, Ottoni C, Carra M, Vukojičić S, Constantinescu M, Antonović D, Price DT, Borić D. Wild cereal grain consumption among Early Holocene foragers of the Balkans predates the arrival of agriculture. in ELIFE. 2021;10.
doi:10.7554/eLife.72976 .

Cristiani, Emanuela, Radini, Anita, Zupancich, Andrea, Gismondi, Angelo, D'Agostino, Alessia, Ottoni, Claudio, Carra, Marialetizia, Vukojičić, Snežana, Constantinescu, Mihai, Antonović, Dragana, Price, Douglas T., Borić, Dušan, "Wild cereal grain consumption among Early Holocene foragers of the Balkans predates the arrival of agriculture" in ELIFE, 10 (2021),
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.72976 . .