The Aurignacian in the Carpathian Basin of Eastern Central Europe and its Proto-Aurignacian industry type

The article represents our first article in a series planned by us, with some more following articles on Aurignacian, its industry types and possible industrial-chronological variability for a large region in the heart of Europe, the Carpathian Basin, Eastern Central Europe. Our study proposes to define four Aurignacian industry types : Proto-Aurignacian/ Aurignacian 0 ; Early Aurignacian/ Aurignacian I ; Middle Aurignacian/ Aurignacian II ; Evolved Aurignacian with Góra Puławska II-type microliths. The present article is particularly devoted to Proto-Aurignacian sites and understanding its artefact complexity and variability. Certain attempts, based upon a number of artefact classification mistakes and their erroneous interpretations try to show that the Basin’s assemblages in the Banat (south of the Carpathian Basin) allegedly represent a mixture of Proto-Aurignacian and Early Aurignacian features composing an “ Aurignacian 0.5” industry ; we demonstrate in detail the proper Proto-Aurignacian industrial status for all the Basin’s sites and their finds, with some reservations for the Krems-Hundssteig site, Lower Austria. Moreover, the Carpathian Basin Proto-Aurignacian supports well the Aquitaine Aurignacian scheme. Some variability in the lithic assemblages is explained, in our view through the existence of various site types and their human activities, as it was established for the Ukrainian Transcarpathian record. Thus, finding some real industry variability endorses the classic French scheme