The Lower Paleolithic of Romania: A Critical Review

Abstract

In the last few decades, our understanding of the Lower Paleolithic has expanded, due to multiple advances in research methods and the numerous sites recently discovered. As a consequence, there have been many changes in the interpretation of Lower Paleolithic technocomplexes, in terms of lithic industry characteristics, geographi-cal spread, and chronological framing. This article presents a synthesis of the research carried out on the Lower Paleolithic in Romania in the 20th century. Several problems are discussed—the concept of Osteodontokeratic industries, which was used in the 1960s, still is has not been completely abandoned; terminology is very equivo-cal and there is no explicit delimitation between various stages of the Lower Paleolithic; tools found in disturbed context are used as cultural markers, which is not recommended for the Lower Paleolithic. Romania has very few sites with stratigraphy. Of those, even fewer have faunal-lithic associations and most of the lithics, scarce as they are (fewer than 10 per site), are often taphonomic or doubtfully anthropogenic. In addition, there are no trustwor-thy or radiometric dates. Therefore, based upon the evidence so far, the existence of the Lower Paleolithic in the territory of the current Republic of Romania is doubtful.