Istállóskő revisited: Lithic artefacts and assemblages, sixty years after

Abstract

The Istállóskő cave, one of the classical sites in Hungary was generally regarded as the only important locality of the Aurignacian culture with two discrete culture-bearing layers. The assemblages played a key role in several theories on the appearance of the Upper Palaeolithic in Europe; however, this is the first time that all the lithic artefacts found since 1912 until 1965 are studied in details. As a result of our analysis, none of the studied lithic assemblages could be attributed to to the s. str. Aurignacian industry as the diagnostic pieces are absent. Quite atypical fragmented blades and a bifacial tool have been uncovered in the poor ‘lower ( Aurignacian I) culture-bearing layer’, which — together with the rich osseous industry, including split based points — are compared to the assemblages of the Jankovich cave (Transdanubia), the Dzeravá skála/Pálffy cave (Slovakia) and layer G1 in the Vindija cave (Croatia). In the ‘upper (Aurignacian II) culture-bearing layer’ the few Mladec/Olschewa-type osseous artefacts were associated with Gravettian flint lithics and Middle Palaeolithic and bifacial elements made from radiolarite and felsitic porphyry. This industry is compared to those known from early Gravettian sites and the Szeleta cave.

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