New radiocarbon determinations for the late Pleistocene site of Badanj (Bosnia and Herzegovina): Implications for the Upper Palaeolithic sequence of the Adriatic basin.

Abstract

This paper presents the results of a new radiocarbon dating program for the Upper Palaeolithic site of Badanj, Bosnia and Herzegovina. After putting together older dates originating from the 1970s and 1980s with recent ones acquired as part of new fieldwork, we then combine the available radiocarbon record with the present understanding of the stratigraphy to create two alternative Bayesian models. Both models are in general agreement and demonstrate that the site was in use from the Late Glacial until the end of the Pleistocene, which correspond in the local typo-chronological terminology to the Early and Late Epigravettian. Implications of this unique documentrary resource for our understanding of the Late Upper Palaeolithic in the Adriatic basin are briefly considered.