Late Neandertals in Dalmatia: Site formation processes, chronology, climate change and human activity at Mujina Pećina, Croatia

Geoarchaeological studies based on standard sedimentological and soil micromorphological analyses were carried out at Mujina Pećina, a cave site with Mousterian lithic industries situated in Dalmatia, a region of Croatia facing the present-day Adriatic Sea coast. These studies were integrated with a large set of datings and magnetic susceptibility data. Part of the resulting radiocarbon dates were biased by erratic behaviour of the applied pre-treatment methods; however, pedostratigraphic and magnetic susceptibility data allowed for a better assessment of the chronology of the sequence, which is dated to a period between ∼49 and ∼39 cal ka BP. Neandertals frequented Mujina Pećina more intensively during the deposition of the first part of the sequence, partly corresponding to Heinrich event H5, whereas their presence was episodic in later phases, when the cave was shared with carnivores.