The largest sequence of layers containing Middle Palaeolithic artefacts from the period coinciding with the Eemian interglacial and the Weichselian glaciation was

discovered at Bisnik Cave. Assemblages recorded as A

and A

, detected in layers of sandy clay or loamy sands (13 and 12), included artefacts representing—in K, Cyrek's view—Acheulean assemblages with the Levallois technique. Assemblage A

is asso-ciated with traces of fire-making (hearth?). Accumulation of the layers in question occurred in a period of temperate and humid climate, while the presence of woodland fauna indicates a link with the Eemian interglacial.

Layers of sandy clay / loamy sands (layers 10-11) contained a small number of finds - assemblage B/C (fig. 11,1-6.)—which may be a part of the inventory recorded in the overlying stratum. The upper layer 9, and partly layer 8, contained artefacts included in assemblage D. The layers were both sandy clay and loamy clays.

According to K.

Cyrek,

assemblage D has features common with the Taubachian. The layer which contained assemblage D, found at the entrance to the cave, produced traces of

fire-1 0 FAJER et al. 2001, 51.

1 1 B U R D U K I E W I C Z 1999.

12 MlROStAW-GRABOWSKA 2002, 169.

13 C Y R E K 2002, 50.

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making (remains of a hearth?). The next assemblage—E—consists of no more t h a n a dozen or so lithic artefacts. Pieces included in this assemblage occurred within layer 8.

O n e of the two younger Middle Palaeolithic assemblages (F2) is represented by 180 lithic artefacts. It occurred in the zone of transition of stratified sands (layer 7) a n d underlying clays (layers 8-9), Characteristic tools were represented by knife forms resembling Prqdnik knives. K. Cyrek classifies t h e assemblages to the older Mico-quian-Pradnikian phase in Poland, comparing it to Wylotne type assemblages.14

The next assemblage—Fj—included asymmetric knives of Pradnik, Klausennische and Bockstein type (layer 5). The finds were contained within a layer of grey strati-fied sand. 761 specimens were recovered, including 104 tools (fig, 11, 7-8.). K. Cyrek1 5

relates t h e m to Ciemna type assemblages, distinguished some decades ago by J. K.

Koztowski a n d S. K. Koztowski (1977, 7 0 - 7 4 . ) . Assemblages F1 and F2 were dated on the basis of biostratigraphy to the Br0rup interstadial. This dating is supported by U T analysis of bone samples using the E P R method.

O n e of the more striking discoveries made at Bisnik was a fragment of a structure with a "stone wall", found at the cave entrance in layer 5.16 T h e perplexing feature contained a concentration of bone and flint artefacts. T h e author of research has sug-gested that this may be the remains of a dwelling structure. It is also interesting that sub-assemblage F2 included three antler objects with traces of use/wear, all of t h e m resembling "axes" in shape. According to K. Cyrek, one of these specimens showed traces of having been used as a hammer.

More evidence was recovered at the housing district O p o r ó w in Wroclaw.1 7 Sites Ai, A2 a n d B recorded in the area lie at a distance of j u s t 2.25 kilometres or so in a straight line from the site at Haliéra street, situated on the upland margin and the val-ley of the Slçza river (left h a n d tributary of the O d r a ) . T h e artefacts occurred almost 2 metres below the ground level. Site Ai is situated at the n o r t h e r n elevation of the

upland, site A2, containing artefacts in two layers, on the eastern incline of the same elevation (fig. 12,), site B — o n the southern side of the elevation. The latter is built of till and fluvioglacial deposits of the O d r a n i a n glaciation. Sites O p o r ó w Ai and A2, with a well identified stratigraphy, lie only 170 metres apart. Artefacts from site Ai and the lower level of site A2 formed during a similar period; finds contained by the upper level of site A2 a n d isolated artefacts from site B are slightly younger. Artefacts representing the older horizon are dated by T L and E P R methods to between 66 a n d 41 ka; artefacts recovered from the upper level of site A 2 a n d from site B — t o about 35 ka. T h e period may be synchronised with the final stages of the lower stadial (4 OIS) or the onset of the interpleniglacial, which corresponds to interstadials Glinde,

14 CYREK 2002, 45,

15 CYREK 2002, 36.

16 CYREK 2003.

17 SZYNKIEWICZ-WISNIEWSKI 1994.; WisNiEwsKi et al. 2003.

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Oerel and Moershoofd (OIS3). If these dates are right they challenge the concept of

"depopulation" of areas to the n o r t h of the Carpathian and Sudeten Range during the pleniglacial and immediately after (OIS4 / 3).1 8

Site Ai furnished 51 flint artefacts, including seven tools. The latter g r o u p — a p a r t from a side scraper a n d an implement fashioned from a core—included forms with marginal retouch. The lower level of site A2 is represented by 101 flint artefacts, including eight tools (fig, 12,). The latter were poor in diagnostic forms. The upper level of site A2 contained 50 artefacts, including six tools, similarly non diagnostic as in the older level. Site B furnished isolated finds in the form of a side scraper and a flake. All the objects were fashioned from erratic flint. In the light of typological data it is difficult to classify the described collections to any of the taxonomic unit of the closing stages of the Middle Palaeolithic or to so-called transitional taxonomic units.

The artefacts were accompanied by the remains of steppe-tundra fauna, including the m a m m o t h (Mammuthus primigenius), woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis), horse (Equus sp.), and reindeer (Rangifer tarandus), as well as fish species, including pike (Esox lucius). T h e lower level of site A2 contained also traces of juniper charcoal (Juniperus sp.). At a distance of about 200 metres to the south of site A2, during the older and the younger occupation phase alike, there h a d been a number of undrained lake reservoirs with Nuphar, Nymphaea, Sphagnum, Sellaginella selaginoides and Pedi-astrum vegetation. Mineral-organic sediments of the reservoirs retained traces of ani-mal bones from the same game species as occurred together with the lithic artefacts, except the reindeer and remains offish, including pike-perch (Stizostedion lucioperca).

Pollen and macroscopic plant remains recovered from the lake sediments indicate that the older phase of occupation was associated with a slightly warmer climate. Pal-aeobotanic data suggests the occurrence of zones typical for this type of ecosystems.

O n e of t h e m was formed by a h u m i d littoral and sublittoral zone, a n o t h e r — a zone of dry terraces which contained the concentration of artefacts, a n d a t h i r d — a ridge ris-ing between the valleys. Evidence from Oporów, similar to the known remains from Zwoleri near Radom,1 9 is an example, unique in Poland, of exploitation of lower ter-race levels by the people of the Middle Palaeolithic.

The last glaciation is a period to which it is possible to associate the fragment of an assemblage discovered in the S W area of the site at Haliéra street in Wroclaw.2 0

Artefacts occurred on the surface of layer 11, one covering the earlier discussed mate-rial from the period of the Middle Polish glaciations, and in the floor of the silty m u d layer 16 covering the moraine pavement. Basing on the results of archaeomet-ric E P R analysis of bone remains the age of the level was estimated as around 50 ka (information from M . Wencka), At the same time stratigraphie analyses do not rule out an even older dating for the discussed culture level (Eemian interglacial, onset

18 cf. CHMIELEWSKI 1970.

19 SCHILD et al. 1988.; 2000.

20 WiSNiEWSKi 2003a.; 2003c.

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of the Weichselian glaciation). The artefacts formed an uneven arrangement with observable concentrations having the nature of anthropogenic clusters. Artefacts originating from these clusters subsequently could be refitted into blocks. The largest of them contained 48 specimens.

The area around the lithic material produced finds of highly fragmented bone and