Studies in Pleistocene settlement in the Polish Carpathians

Abstract

During the late 1970s when the results of theoretical analyses of prehistoric settlement to the north and south of the Polish Carpathians became available along with new methods of field research (Rydlewski & Valde-Nowak 19791, they set in motion a process of systematic discovery of archaeological sites in the region. Rich Palaeolithic assemblages were recovered which have yet to be published in full in Polish periodicals (e.g. Rydlewski & Valde-Nowak 1980a; 1980b).Before this the existence of traces of Pleistocene settlement was not seriously considered. Sporadic surveys found nothing and the Polish Carpathians were believed to have been either unsettled in the Pleistocene or, at most, a transit zone for human groups. This contrasted with the neighbouring Cracow-Częstochowa Upland to the north (the Ojców and Mników Valleys), and the Slovakian Carpathians where Palaeolithic sites had been discovered more than a century ago.