Frontiers of the Lower Palaeolithic expansion in Europe: Tunel Wielki Cave (Poland)

Peopling of Central Europe by Middle Pleistocene hominids is highly debatable, mainly due to the relatively harsh climatic and environmental conditions that require cultural and anatomical adjustments. At least several archaeological sites certify human occupation in the region dated back to MIS 13‑11, but they represent open‑air settlements. Based on the new fieldwork conducted in Tunel Wielki Cave, we can date the human occupation traces in the cave to MIS 14‑12. Bipolar‑on‑anvil knapping technique prevails in the lithic assemblage, made exclusively in flint. The obtained results have given ground for studying the frontiers of human oikumene and the required cultural adaptive abilities.The first peopling of Europe started from its southernmost part, although the potential migration routes are still under debate1–6. The inhabited regions resembled the north African and Near Eastern climatic and ecological conditions, so the hominin migration could be a part of the faunal renewal of the region7–11. The human expan-sion further to the north, out of the Mediterranean niche, required severe cultural and physical adaptations12. Even though all ephemeral archaeological evidence has been discussed, traces of Middle Pleistocene human occupation in Central Europe, predominantly north of the Carpathians, are extremely scarce and late compared to the other regions of Europe. It is primarily due to the geological history of the European Lowlands13 and paleoclimatic conditions, which prevented hominids from crossing the Carpathians. Well-recognized Lower Palaeolithic open-air sites to the south of the Carpathians such as Vértesszölös, Korolevo (level VI)14–17 have only scarce analogies on the northern side of the mountains in Poland, e.g., Trzebnica 2, Rusko 33, 36 and 4218,19. However, the Middle Pleistocene chronology of the Trzebnica assemblage has been recently questioned20. Still, together with several open-air sites found in central Germany (Bilzingsleben, Schöningen 13, Kärlich-Seeufer, Mauer)21–28, they mark a frontier of the human expansion which took place during MIS 13-11 (Fig. 1).Interestingly, all the known Lower Palaeolithic sites in Central Europe are open-air sites. It is because there are only a few cave sites in the region with preserved Early and Middle Pleistocene sediments29,30. In the largest karstic region situated north of the Carpathians, i.e. the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland, with over 2000 caves, only a few sites with Middle Pleistocene sediments have been identified so far31. One is the well-known Biśnik Cave, with the lowest strata containing stone artefacts (19a–d) dated previously up to MIS 8/7 or even MIS 932–34. The most recent analysis of the unusually abundant fossil material confirms an age no older than MIS 10 in the lowermost layers of Biśnik Cave35.The scarcity of Early and Middle Pleistocene cave sediments is typical of caves in Kraków-Częstochowa Upland. The reasons for this phenomenon are unknown; however, we expect this is mainly due to the washing out of the sediments during several Middle Pleistocene glaciations when Kraków-Częstochowa Upland was sur-rounded by ice sheet in the form of a concave nunatak30,36. In such a context, traces of human occupation found in Tunel Wielki Cave in the southern part of Kraków-Częstochowa Upland are unique and highly significant. We believe that they can shed more light on the distribution of genus Homo in Europe and on hominid life on the frontiers of their ecumene and adaptive abilities.