Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dsjbd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T19:45:53.175Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The earliest occupation of Europe: a short chronology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Wil Roebroeks  and
Thijs van Kolfschoten
Wil Roebroeks
Affiliation:
Faculty of Pre- and Protohistory, Leiden University, PO Box 9515, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands
Thijs van Kolfschoten
Affiliation:
Faculty of Pre- and Protohistory, Leiden University, PO Box 9515, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

A reappraisal of the artefactual and chronological evidence for the earliest occupation of Europe — with proper attention to its limitations and its reliability — makes for a short chronology. The first solid traces of hominid activities in this part of the world are around 500,000 years old.

Type
Papers
Information
Antiquity , Volume 68 , Issue 260 , September 1994 , pp. 489 - 503
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 1994

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ackerman, S. 1989. European prehistory gets even older, Science 246: 28–30.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Aguirre, E. 1991. Les premiers peuplements humains de la Péninsule Ibérique, in Bonifay & Vandermeersch (1991): 143–50.Google Scholar
Agusti, S.Moyà-Solà & Pons-MoyÀ, J. 1987. La sucesión de Mamíferos en el Pleistoceno inferior de Europa: proposición de una nueva escala bioestratigrafica, Paleontologia; Evolucio, Memoria Especial 1: 287–95.Google Scholar
Azzaroli, A. 1977. The Villafranchian stage in Italy and the Plio-Pleistocene boundary, Giornale di Geologia 41: 61–79.Google Scholar
Azzaroli, A., De Giuli, C. Ficcarelli, G. & Torre, D. 1988. Late Pliocene to Mid-Pleistocene mammals in Eurasia: faunal succession and dispersal events, Palaeo-geography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 66: 77–100.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bonifay, E. 1987. Soleilhac 1987. Rapport de fouilles. Marseille: Laboratoire de Géologie du Quaternaire.Google Scholar
Bonifay, E. 1991. Les premiers industries du Sud-Est de la France et du Massif-Central, in Bonifay&Vandermeersch (1991): 63–80.Google Scholar
Bonifay, E. & Vandermeersch, B. (ed.). 1991. Les Premiers Européens. Paris: Editions du C.T.H.S. Google Scholar
Boule, M. 1921. Les Hommes Fossiles. Eléments de paléontologie humaine. Paris: Masson.Google Scholar
Bourdier, F., Chaline, J. Munaut, A.V. & Puissegur, J.J. 1974. La très haute nappe alluviale de la Somme, Bulletin de l'Association Frangaise pour l'Etude du Quaternaire 11: 137–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burdukiewicz, J.M. & Wlnnlcki, J. 1988. Trzebnica - Najstarsze Slady Obecnosci Czlowieka na Ziemiach Polskich. Towarzystwo Milosników Ziemi Trzebnickiej.Google Scholar
Burdukiewicz, J.M. & Wlnnlcki, J. 1989. Nowe Materialy Paleolitu Dolnego ? Trzebnicy, Woj. Wroclaw, Silesia Antiqua 31: 9–17.Google Scholar
Carbonell, E. & Rodriguez, X.P. 1994. Early Middle Pleistocene deposits and artefacts in the Gran Dolina site (TD4) of the ‘Sierra de Atapuerca’ (Burgos, Spain), Journal of Human Evolution 26: 291–311.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chaline, J. 1986. Continental faunal units of the Plio-Pleistocene of France, Memorie della Società Geologic Italiana 31: 175–83.Google Scholar
Chamagne, B. 1988. Environnement géologique de la grotte du Vallonet (Roquebrune-Cap-Martin), L’Anthro-pologie 92: 399–406.Google Scholar
Chavaillon, J. 1991. Les ensembles lithiques de Chilhac III (Haute Loire): typologie, situation stratigraphique et analyse critique et comparative, in Bonifay&Vandermeersch (1991): 81–91.Google Scholar
Clark, J.D. 1958. The natural fracture of pebbles from the Batoka Gorge, Northern Rhodesia, and its bearing on the Kafuan industries of Africa, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 24: 64–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coltorti, M., Cremaschi, M. Delitala, M.C. et al. 1981. Reversed magnetic polarity at an early Lower Palaeolithic site in Central Italy, Nature 300: 173–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cook, J., Stringer, C.B. Currant, A.P. Schwargz, K.P. & Wintle, A.G. 1982. A review of the chronology of the European Middle Pleistocene hominid record, Yearbook of Physical Anthropology 25: 19–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Delson, E. 1989. Oldest Eurasian stone tools, Nature 340: 96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dennell, R. 1983. European economic prehistory. A new approach. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Desclaux, E. 1992a. Les petits vertèbres à la Caune de l’Arago (Tautavel, Pyrénées Orientales). Paléonto-logie, paléoécologie, taphonomie. Thèse de Doctorat. Paris: M.N.H.N. Google Scholar
Desclaux, E. 1992b. Les petits vertèbres de la Caune de l’Arago à Tautavel, Bulletin du Musée d'Anthropologie préhistorique de Monaco 35: 35–64.Google Scholar
Dzaparidze, V., Bosinski, G. Bljgianisvili, T. et al. 1989. Der altpaläolithische Fundplatz Dmanisi in Georgien (Kaukasus), Jahrbuch des Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums Mainz: 67–116.Google Scholar
Fejfar, O. & Heinrich, W.D. 1981. Zur biostratigraphischen Abgrenzung und Gliederung des kontinentalen Quartärs in Europa an Hand von Arvicoliden (Rodentia, Mammalia), Ecologae Geologicae Helveti-cae 74 (3): 997–1006.Google Scholar
Fridrich, J. 1989. Prezletice: A lower Palaeolithic site in Central Bohemia (Excavations 1969-1985). Prague: Museum Nationale Pragae.Google Scholar
Fridrich, J. 1991. The oldest Palaeolithic stone industry from the Beroun highway complex, Antropozoikum 20: 111–28.Google Scholar
Gagnepain, J., Hedley, I. Bahain, J.-f. & Wagner, J.-J. 1992. Etude magnétostratigraphique du site de Ca'Belvedere di Monte Poggiolo (Forlì, Italie), et de son contexte stratigraphique. Premiers résultats, in Peretto (1992): 319–35.Google Scholar
Gamble, C.S. 1993. Timewalkers. The Prehistory of Global Colonization. Stroud (Gloucestershire): Alan Sutton. 1994. TIME FOR BOXGROVE MAN, NATURE 369: 275–6.Google Scholar
Gil, E. & Sese, C. 1991. Middle Pleistocene small mammals from Atapuerca (Burgos, Spain), in Datations et Characterizations des Milieux Pleistocenes. Actes du Symposium 11 et 17 de la Heme R.S.T. Clermond Ferrand 1986. Cahiers du Quaternaire 16: 337–47.Google Scholar
Guth, C. & Chavaillon, J. 1985. Découverte, en 1984, de nouveaux outils paléolithiques à Chilhac III, (Haute Loire), Bulletin de la Société Préhistorique Frangaise 82: 56–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kasansteva, N.E. 1987. Paleogeograficeskie uslovija obitanija nizneplejstocenovyx faun melkix mleko-pitajuscix bassejna srednego Dona. Dissertation, Uni-versity of Moscow, Moscow.Google Scholar
Kozlowski, J.K. 1992. Les premiers habitants de l'Europe centrale et orientale, in Peretto (1992): 69–91.Google Scholar
Kretzoi, M. 1965. Die Nager und Lagomorphen von Voigtstedt in Thüringen und ihre chronologische Aussage, Paläontologische Abhandlungen 2(3): 587–660.Google Scholar
Kretzoi, M. & Pécsi, M. 1979. Pliocene and Pleistocene development and chronology of the Pannonian Basin, Acta Geologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungari-cae 22: 1–4, 3–33.Google Scholar
Lister, A. 1992. Mammalian fossils and quaternary biostratigraphy, Quaternary Science Reviews 11: 329–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lumley, H.DE, 1988. La stratigraphie du remplissage de la grotte du Vallonet, L’Anthropologie 92: 407–28.Google Scholar
Lumley, H.DE, Fournier, A. Krzepkowska, J. & Echassoux, A. 1988. L’industrie du Pléistocène inférieur de la grotte du Vallonet, Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, Alpes-Maritimes, L’Anthropologie 92: 501–614.Google Scholar
Lumley, H.DE Fournier, A. Park, Y.C. Yokoyama, Y. & Demouy, A. 1984. Stratigraphie du remplissage pléistocène moyen de la Caune de l’Arago à Tautavel - Etude de huit carottages effectués de 1981 à 1983, L’Anthropologie 88: 5–18.Google Scholar
Malez, M. 1976. Excavation of the Villafranchian site Sandalja I near Pula (Yugoslavia), in: Valoch, K. (ed.), Les premières industries de l’Europe. IXe Congrès UISPP, Collogue 8: 104–23. Nice: UISPP.Google Scholar
Mcpherron, A. & Schmidt, V. 1983. Paleomagnetic dating at Isernia la Pineta, in Peretto, C. Terzani, C. & Cremaschi, M. (ed.), Isernia la Pineta, un accampamento più antico di 700,000 anni: 67–9. Bologna: Calderini.Google Scholar
Meltzer, D.J. 1993. Pleistocene peopling of the Americas, Evolutionary Anthropology 1: 157–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Musil, R. & Valoch, K. 1968. Stránská skála. Its meaning for Pleistocene Studies, Current Anthropology 9: 534–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mussi, M. 1992. Il Paleolitico e il Mesolitico in Italia. Bologna: Stilus.Google Scholar
Obermaier, H. 1912. Der Mensch der Vorzeit. Berlin: Allgemeine Verlags-Gesellschaft.Google Scholar
Peretto, C. (ed.). 1992. I Primi Abitanti della Vaile Padana: Monte Poggiolo Nel Quadro delle Conoscenze Europee. Milano: Jaca Book.Google Scholar
Raposo, L. 1985. Le Paléolithique inférieur archa'ique au Portugal. Bilan des connaissances. Bulletin de la Société Préhistorique Frangaise 82(6): 173–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roberts, M.B. 1986. Excavation of the Lower Palaeolithic site at Amey's Eartham Pit, Boxgrove, West Sussex: A preliminary report, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 52: 215–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roberts, M.B. 1990. ‘Amey’s Eartham Pit, Boxgrove’, in Turner, C. (ed.), The Cromer Symposium Norwich 1990, SEQS: field excursion guide book: 62–77. Cambridge: Quaternary Research Association.Google Scholar
Roberts, M.B., Stringer, C.B. & Parfitt, S.A. 1994. A hominid tibia from Middle Pleistocene sediments at Boxgrove, UK, Nature 369: 311–13.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Roebroeks, W., Conard, N.J. & Van Kolfschoten, T. 1992. Dense forests, cold steppes and the Palaeolithic settlement of northern Europe, Current Anthropology 33: 551–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rolland, N. 1992. The Palaeolithic colonization of Europe: an archaeological and biogeographic perspective, Trabajos de Prehistoria 49: 69–111.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sala, B., Masini, F. Ficcarelli, G. Rook, L. & Torre, D. 1992. Mammal dispersal events in the Middle and Late Pleistocene of Italy and Western Europe, Courier Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg 153: 59–68.Google Scholar
Sala, B. & Fortelius, M. 1993. The rhinoceroses of Isernia La Pineta (early Middle Pleistocene, Southern Italy), Palaeontographia Italica 80: 157–74.Google Scholar
Santonja, M. 1992. La adaptación al medio en el Paleolitico inferior de la Peninsula ibérica. Elementos para una reflexion, in Moure Romanillo, A. (ed.), Elefantes, ciervos y ovicaprinos: 37–75. Santander: Universidad de Cantabria.Google Scholar
Santonja, M. & Villa, P. 1990. The Lower Palaeolithic of Spain and Portugal, Journal of World Prehistory 4: 45–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schick, K.D. & Zhuan, D. 1993. Early Paleolithic of China and Eastern Asia, Evolutionary Anthropology 2: 22–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sollas, W.J. 1911 (1924). Ancient Hunters and their Modern Representatives. London: Macmillan. 2nd edn 1924.Google Scholar
Swisher, C.C., Curtis, G.H. Jacob, T. Getty, A.G. Suprijo, A. & Widiasmoro, 1994. Age of the earliest known hominids in Java, Indonesia, Science 263: 1118–21.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Terzea, E. In press. Mammalian events in the Quaternary of Romania and correlations with climatic chronology of Western Europe, Acta zoologica cracoviensia.Google Scholar
Thieme, H., Mania, D. Urban, B. & Van Kolfschoten, T. 1993. Schöningen (Nordharzvorland). Eine altpaläo-lithische Fundstelle aus dem mittleren Eiszeitalter, Archäologisches Korrespondenzblatt 23: 147–63.Google Scholar
Thouveny, N. & Bonifay, E. 1984. New chronological data on European Plio-Pleistocene faunas and hominid occupation sites, Nature 308: 355–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tuffreau, A. 1987. Le Paléolithique inférìeur et moyen du Nord de la France (Nord Pas-de-Calais, Picardie) dans son cadre stratigraphique. Thèse Doctorat d’Etat Università de Lille, Lille.Google Scholar
Turner, A. 1992. Large carnivores and earliest European hominids: changing determinants of resource availability during the Lower and Middle Pleistocene, Journal of Human Evolution 22: 109–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Valoch, K. 1972. Gab es eine altpaläolithische Besiedlung der Stránská skála? in Musil, R. (ed.), Strúnská skála I 1910-1945: 199-204. Brno: Morávske Museum. Anthropos 20 (N.S. 12).Google Scholar
Valoch, K. 1984. Early Palaeolithic in Moravia, Czechoslovakia, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 50: 63–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Valoch, K. 1987. The Early Palaeolithic Site Stránská Skála I near Brno (Czechoslovakia), Anthropologie 25(2): 125–42.Google Scholar
Valoch, K. 1991. Les premiers peuplements humains en Moravie (Tchécoslovaquie), in Bonifay & Vandermeersch (1991): 189–94.Google Scholar
Van Der Meulen, A.J. 1973. Middle Pleistocene smaller mammals from the Monte (Orvieto, Italy) with special reference to the phylogeny of Microtus (Arvicolidae, Rodentia), Quaternaria 4(17): 1–444.Google Scholar
Van Kolfschoten, A.J. 1990. The evolution of the mammal fauna in the Netherlands and the middle Rhine Area (Western Germany) during the late Middle Pleistocene, Mededelingen Rijks Geologische Dienst 43(3): 1–69.Google Scholar
Van Kolfschoten, A.J. 1993. On the origin of the Middle Pleistocene larger voles, Quaternary International 9: 47–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Kolfschoten, T. & Turner, E. In press. Early Middle Pleistocene mammalian faunas from Kärlich and Miesenheim I and their biostratigraphical implications. Proceedings of the SEQS Cromer Symposium 1990.Google Scholar
Volbrecht, J. 1992. Das Altpaläolithikum aus den unteren Schichten in Kärlich. Magisterarbeit, Universität Köln, Köln.Google Scholar
Von Koenigswald, W. & Van Kolfschoten, T. In press. The Mimomys-Arvìcola boundary andd the enamel thickness quotient (SDQ) of Arvicola as stratigraphic markers in the Middle Pleistocene, Proceedings of the SEQS Cromer symposium 1990.Google Scholar
Warren, S.H. 1920. A Natural ‘Eolith‘ Factory beneath the Thanet Sand, Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society 76: 238–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Würges, K. 1986. Artefakte aus den ältesten Quartärsedinienten (Schichten ?-C) der Tongrube Kärlich, Kreis Mayen-Koblenz/Neuwieder Becken, Archäologisches Korrespondenzblatt 16: 1–6.Google Scholar
Würges, K. 1991. Neue altpaläolithische Funde aus der Tongrube Kärlich, Kreis Mayen-Koblenz/Neuwieder Becken, Archäologisches Korrespondenzblatt 21: 449–55.Google Scholar
Zagwijn, W.H. 1985. An outline of the Quaternary stratigraphy of the Netherlands, Geologie en Mijn-bouw 4: 17–24.Google Scholar
Zagwijn, W.H. 1992. The beginning of the Ice Age in Europe and its major subdivisions, Quaternary Science Reviews 11: 583–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar