Filling the gaps: Late Upper Palaeolithic settlement in Gvardjilas Klde, Georgia

The paper presents the newly established radiocarbon dates of the Late Upper Palaeolithic (LUP) settlement in Gvardjilas Klde in the Imereti region in Georgia. The analysed samples were collected by Stefan Krukowski in 1916 during his fieldwork in the cave. Krukowski identified two separate UP cultural horizons. The older one was connected with what he called layer 10, and the younger one - with layer 11. The obtained radiocarbon dates confirm the results obtained by Krukowski. The older settlement phase can be dated to 19.7–18.8 ky cal. BP, while the younger one to 15.8–14.7 ky cal. BP. The end of human occupation can be linked to the beginning of the Holocene. Interestingly, the presented probability density models show that Gvardjilas Klde was occupied interchangeably with other sites in the region. There is no other site in the Imereti region with chronology similar to any of the settlement phases in Gvardjilas Klde. The only chronologically corresponding sites are Mezmaiskaya Cave and Badynoko Rockshelter in the Northern Caucasus.