Solving Stone Age puzzles: From artefacts and sites towards archaeological interpretations

Abstract

The collective monograph presents eighteen contributions from leading Central European specialists in Paleolithic archaeology, Quaternary geology, anthropology, paleoecology, and other related fields studying the Pleistocene and Holocene. Individual chapters, presenting information from new research, results of the analyses, or newly published studies, cover various areas and topics related to the interdisciplinary research of the Stone Age in Central Europe (sources of stone raw materials, the technology of artefact production, settlement and subsistence strategies, chronological relationships, and paleoecological reconstructions). Although the authors use different approaches and methods in their works, the unifying element of this colourful mosaic is the effort to show how a wide range of archaeological sources can be interpreted and explained in different ways and how they can be used for further research. In this sense, archaeological explanations and interpretations represent a fascinating and never-ending journey of learning about our past.