The Micoquian is the broadest and longest enduring cultural facies of the Late Middle Palaeolithic that spread across the periglacial and boreal environments of Europe between Eastern France, Poland, and Northern Caucasus. Here, we present new data from the archaeological record of Stajnia Cave (Poland) and the paleogenetic analysis of a Neanderthal molar S5000, found in a Micoquian context. Our results demonstrate that the mtDNA genome of Stajnia S5000 dates to MIS 5a making the tooth the oldest Neanderthal specimen from Central-Eastern Europe. Furthermore, S5000 mtDNA has the fewest number of differences to mtDNA of Mezmaiskaya 1 Neanderthal from Northern Caucasus, and is more distant from almost contemporaneous Neanderthals of Scladina and Hohlenstein-Stadel. This observation and the technological affinity between Poland and the Northern Caucasus could be the result of increased mobility of Neanderthals that changed their subsistence strategy for coping with the new low biomass environments and the increased foraging radius of gregarious animals. The Prut and Dniester rivers were probably used as the main corridors of dispersal. The persistence of the Micoquian techno-complex in South-Eastern Europe infers that this axis of mobility was also used at the beginning of MIS 3 when a Neanderthal population turnover occurred in the Northern Caucasus.

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Evidence of mobiliary art and body augmentation are associated with the cultural innovations introduced by Homo sapiens at the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic. Here, we report the discovery of the oldest known human-modified punctate ornament, a decorated ivory pendant from the Paleolithic layers at Stajnia Cave in Poland. We describe the features of this unique piece, as well as the stratigraphic context and the details of its chronometric dating. The Stajnia Cave plate is a personal 'jewellery' object that was created 41,500 calendar years ago (directly radiocarbon dated). It is the oldest known of its kind in Eurasia and it establishes a new starting date for a tradition directly connected to the spread of modern Homo sapiens in Europe.

arski, M., Win ter, H., Nadachowski, A., Urbanowski, M., Socha, P., Kenig, K., Marcinkowski, B., Krzemiñska, E., Stefaniak, K., Nowaczewska, W., Marciszak, A., 2017. Stra tig ra phy and palaeoenvironment of Stajna Cave (south ern Po land) with regard to hab i ta tion of the site by Neanderthals. Geo log i cal Quar terly, 61 (2): 350-369, doi: 10.7306/gq.1355The Stajnia Cave is one of the most im por tant ar chae o log i cal sites due to the finds of the first re mains of Neanderthals in Poland, and sev eral tens of thou sands of flint artefacts from the Mid dle Palaeo lithic. Based on geo log i cal, geo chem i cal, palaeobotanical, palaeozoological, ar chae o log i cal and iso tope anal y ses, cou pled with ab so lute age de ter mi na tions (OSL, U-Th and C 14 ), 15 lithostratigraphic lay ers were dis tin guished and palaeoenvironmental con di tions dur ing the sed i men ta tion of these beds were de ter mined. The cave loams ac cu mu lated through weath er ing, ae olian and flu vial pro cesses. Their age may be cor re lated with an in ter val from the Early Gla cial to the Late Pleniglacial of the Visulian (Weichselian) Gla ci ation. Archae o log i cal rel ics re lated to the Neanderthals have been dis cov ered in layer D with an ab so lute age of about 52,000-45,000 years BP and cor re lated with MIS 3 -the Mid dle Plenivistulian (Interplenivistulian). Cli mate os cil la tions in the Vistulian are re flected by the type of the sed i ments and their phys i cal-chem i cal fea tures, al low ing de ter min ing warmer interstadial and colder stadial pe ri ods. Gen er ally, the cli mate was cold, char ac ter is tic of tun dra ar eas with a typ i cal veg e tation and fauna, and with the mean tem per a ture of the warm est month not ex ceed ing 12°C. Based on multi-proxy stud ies it can be con cluded that from layer E1 up wards, the cli mate con di tions be came pro gres sively drier. At that time, the cli mate was cold with con ti nen tal fea tures en hanc ing tun dra dom i na tion. This con clu sion is con firmed by palaeontological in ves ti gations and the re cord of sta ble ox y gen iso topes in the teeth of rein deer. The stud ies have also in di cated sea sonal mi gra tion of rein deer on the tun dra that sur rounded the cave. Prob a bly, short-term slight cli mate warm ings oc curred dur ing the Mid dle Plenivistulian (Interplenivistulian).

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