The role of abiotic factors in ecological strategies of Gravettian hunter–gatherers within Moravia, Czech Republic

Middle and Upper Palaeolithic sites in Moravia, an eastern region of the Czech Republic, are considered crucial to the understanding of the ecological strategies and seasonal mobility that enabled modern humans to exploit and colonize through the terminal MIS3 period and LGM in the north European plains. This article discusses the series of abiotic factors which could help explain the Gravettian hunter–gatherer ecological strategies in and around Moravia. The model is drawn from observations of the environmental contexts of both stratified sites and surface collections of Gravettian material within the region, and relates the choice of those sites to the hydrogeological, geological and geomorphologic conditions that impacted humans and their prey. Suggestions are made for possible future survey and excavation in the upper course of the Morava and Odra Rivers.