New radiocarbon data from Micoquian layers of the Kůlna Cave (Czech Republic)

The Kůlna Cave is a significant site due to the stratigraphic sequence documenting the development of Palaeolithic in the Central European territory. Despite large-scale interdisciplinary research, the chronological classification of the individual Middle Palaeolithic cultural horizons is unsatisfactory. Within a new grant project, 43 samples were taken for dating with a preference for bones with anthropic impact and a documented exact position of each sample. To a certain extent this enabled control of possible contamination, and at the same time diminished the negative impact of carnivores linked with the deposition of bones in the cave. Radiocarbon data were obtained for the upper layers of the Middle Palaeolithic sequence that contains Micoquian artefacts, corroborating the former chronological position of layer 7a in spite of a large quantity of ante quem data. Layer 6a, which is of key significance for the solution of issues relating to the Middle/Upper Palaeolithic transition, falls before the Hengelo Interstadial, and therefore it is older than the known EUP industries in Moravia.