Long distance raw materials in the Middle Palaeolithic of Northern Hungary : neanderthals or anatomically modern humans, who did what ?
Résumé
Studies dealing with the procurement and circulation of raw materials during the Middle Palaeolithic tend to demonstrate that Neanderthals used raw materials from local and regional sources. In Western Europe, the distance of the sources rarely exceeded 25–30 km from their settlements. It has also been demonstrated that the use of long distance raw materials increased during the Upper Palaeolithic by Anatomically Modern Humans (AMH). In Eastern Central Europe, the distances of the sources are usually higher in both periods. The case of Northern Hungary provide an interesting situation for the study of the procurement problem. The region is rich in siliceous rocks (limnosilicites, quartz porphyry, silicified rocks) of different abilities for knapping, but good quality raw materials (radiolarite, flint) are almost lacking. Sources of these latter are located at around 200 to 400 km, mainly outside the Carpathians. However, the use of extra-Carpathians raw materials was reported in Middle Palaeolithic context. During new excavations at Sajóbábony open-air site (dir. A. Lamotte & Zs. Mester, 2019-2022) the eponymous of the Middle Palaeolithic Bábonyian industry, artefacts made of flint from Poland have been discovered in archaeological contexts. They are blades, crested-blades and ordinary flakes, scrapers and end-scrapers. As demonstrated in France in the 1990s and later in other part of Europe and Africa, these artifacts can also be produced by Neanderthals. Taking into account the archaeological context of this specific raw material, the question could be posed: Neanderthals or AMH, who did what?