Studies in Pleistocene settlement in the Polish Carpathians PAWEL VALDE-NOWAK* Introduction During the late 1970s when the results of theoretical analyses of prehistoric settlement to the north and south of the Polish Carpathians became available along with new methods of field research (Rydlewski & Valde-Nowak 19791,they set in motion a process of systematic discovery of archaeological sites in the region. Rich Palaeolithic assemblages were recovered which have yet to be published in full in Polish periodicals (e.g. Rydlewski & Valde-Nowak 1980a; 1980b). Before this the existence of traces of Pleis- tocene settlement was not seriously considered. Sporadic surveys found nothing and the Polish Carpathians were believed to have been either unsettled in the Pleistocene or, at most, a transit zone for human groups. This contrasted with the neighbouring Cracow-Czestochowa Upland to the north (the Ojc6w and Mnikow Valleys), and the Slovakian Carpathians where Palaeo- lithic sites had been discovered more than a century ago. Palaeolithic sites in the Polish Carpathians have now been recorded in two adjacent meso- regions: the Orawa-Nowy Targ Basin and the Pieniny Mountains. The first is an extensive depression, its floor filled with quaternary gravels accumulated as fluvial cones and ter- races as well as large raised peat bogs with deposits dating back to the last glacial. The Pieniny Mountains are an accumulation of limestone massifs, 982 m at the highest point (i.e. the Trzy Korony peak). They are connected to the Orawa-Nowy Targ Basin (0-NTB) by the Pieniny Clippen Belt (PCB), a geological unit manifesting itself in the 0-NTB as single, rocky outcrops jutting out from the monotonous Carpathian Flysch sandstone and slate series. In the Pieniny Mountains the PCB takes on the form of a picturesque mountain range (Kon- dracki 1978; Birkenmajer 1979) (FIGURE 1). Natural environment at the end of the Pleistocene The prevailing vegetation during the younger part of Wurm is defined by data from two palaeobotanical sites in the Basin floor, found close to Palaeolithic campsites. One, dis- covered in Biaika Tatrzanska, produced fossil plant remains which can be tentatively core- lated with the maximum of the last glaciation (Sobolewska & Srodon 1961), such as macrosco- pic remains of coniferous trees and abundant peat and tundra mosses. The pollen diagram (FIGURE 2) produced evidence for the identifi- cation of three climatic phases, its central sec- tion showing the presence of plants with high climatic requirements (e.g. Typha latifolia) and a decline in the proportion of certain herba- ceous plants and shrubs (e.g. Ephedra, Betula nana). The Picea curve is also of interest. This section of the diagram would document the so-called Biaika Oscillation, synchronized with the Paudorf Interstadial. The full sequence would generally represent a cold alpine steppe (Sobolewska & Srodon 1961: 13). The second site, the PuScizna Rekowianska peatbog, near Nowy Targ, provides grounds for the recon- struction of the flora in the Allerod Interstadial and Dryas I11 (Koperowa 1961) (FIGURE 3). Allerod spectra contain birch and pine pollens along with those from xerothermic trees, which, according to the latest profile from PuScizna (Obidowicz in press), grew outside the Basin. The climate is described as moderately cool, with average July temperatures at 14°C. Dryas 111 levels show the existence of a forest and tundra + Zakiad Archeologii Matopolski, Instytut Historii Kultury Materialnej PAN, ul. Stawkowska 17, 31-016 Crakow. Poland. ANTIQUITY 65 (1991): 593-606