The Dolní Věstonice Studies, vol. 20 - Mikulov Anthropology Meeting 2014 117 THE MESOLITHIC OF THE BOHEMIAN PARADISE SANDSTONE REGION Petr Šída 1 , Jan Prostředník 2 , Petr Pokorný 3 1- Department of archaeology at Faculty of Philosophy, West Bohemian University in Pilsen, Sedláčkova 15, Plzeň CZ-30614, Czech Republic petrsida@seznam.cz 2- Museum of Bohemian Paradise, Skálova 71, Turnov CZ-511 01, Czech Republic prostrednik@muzeum-turnov.cz 3- Center for heoretical Study, Charles University, Jilská 1, Praha 1 CZ-110 00, Czech Republic pokorny@cts.cuni.cz Site Year of excavation chipped industry features bones art Rockshelter Hlavatá Skála near Štěpánovice 1906 xxx - + - Rockshelter Ludmilina Jeskyně 1907, 1909 xx - - - Rockshelter Tehníkova Skála 1907, 1996, 2013 xx - + - Rockshelter Markův Kout 1908 xx - - - Rockshelter Zemanova Pec 1909 xx - - Rockshelter Novákova Pec 1935-1936, 2014 x - - - Rockshelter Babí Pec 1936, 1947, 2003-2006 xxxx + + - Rockshelter Kudrnáčova Pec 1937 xxx - + - Rockshelter Pánvička 1947 x - - - Rockshelter Pod Pradědem 1947, 1995, 1997, 2013 xxxx + + - Rock gate Dvojitá brána 1947, 2012 xxxx + + - Rockshelter Hlavatá Skála near Borek 1996, 2010 xx + - - Fort Black Rockshelter 2000 - - - + Rockshelter Kristova Jeskyně 2005 xxx + + - Rockshelter near Věžák pond 2007 xx - - - Konejlova Jeskyně Rockshelter 2011 x - + - Velbloud Rockshelter 2012 x - - - Table 1. he Mesolithic of Bohemian Paradise. Overview of conirmed Mesolithic sites with years of excavations, number of chipped industries (x – 1-9, xx – 10-99, xxx – 100-999, xxxx – 1000 and more, presence of archaeological features, presence of bones (sites with good preservation of bones) and art objects. INTRODUCTION Several sites of Mesolithic settlement had been found in the Český ráj (Bohemian Paradise) region at the beginning of 20 th century, but they remained unidentiied as Mesolithic for many years. he largest assemblages were detected at the beginning of the 20th century in rockshelters Hlavatá Skála near Štěpánovice (1906), Ludmilina Skála and Zemanova Pec (1907-1909), in ex- cavations conducted by the archaeological cooperative of J. V. Šimák. Other assemblages were collected by V. Vaníček from Babí Pec and Kudrnáčova Pec rockshelters in the 1930s. he Babí Pec site (1936) was irst excavated with modern methods (using a square net, and sieving of sediment). his was followed by the post-war excavations made by F. Prošek and L. Jisl in 1947 in Babí Pec rockshelter, the rock gate Dvojitá Brána and other sites. hese were also not identiied at the time as Meso- lithic. he most recent excavations with an unidentiied Meso- lithic layer were carried out by V. Vokolek at the Rockshelter pod Pradědem and at Hlavatá Skála rock in the mid-1990s. he Mesolithic settlement in the Bohemian Paradise region