Deravá skala

Fig. 1. Entrance portal of the cave

In the summer of 2024, revision research was conducted in Deravá Skala Cave near Plavecký Mikuláš as part of a multidisciplinary collaboration between experts from Slovakia and abroad. It is key site for understanding the transition between the Middle and Early Palaeolithic periods (approximately 50,000–40,000 years ago) in Slovakia. This transition is marked by the extinction of the last Neanderthals and the expansion of anatomically modern humans. While extensive research on this subject, including the excavation of new sites and the re-evaluation of older ones, has primarily been conducted in Western Europe, this study aims to contribute to the knowledge of this transition in Central Europe.

The objective of the excavation was to establish a detailed chronology of cultural activities and to gain insights into the characteristics of the local environment and climate during the Early and Middle Palaeolithic. Methodologically, this was not a classical archaeological excavation but rather a study focused on the integration of various natural science disciplines. These included archaeobotany (analysis of charcoal, pollen, phytoliths and parenchyma), palaeontology (macrofauna and microfauna), soot analysis, and the examination of stone and bone artefacts. Geochemical techniques (e.g., XRF and trace element analysis) were employed alongside geological methods, such as micromorphology, granulometry, magnetic susceptibility and phosphorus analysis, to investigate sediment genesis. Organic remains, where preserved, will be used for radiocarbon dating, depending on the specific contexts. These analyses will be complemented by advanced geochronological techniques, such as optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and electron spin resonance (ESR) dating, as well as sedimentary environmental DNA (eDNA) studies.

Fig. 2. Interior of the cave during the excavation.

The excavation was conducted on a minimal space, covering an area of approximately 1 × 1 m. A section of the control block from the 2002–2003 excavation, which had been left between trenches PP1 and PP2, was examined (Kaminská/Kozłowski/Svoboda 2005, 13). The upper layers contained ceramic material from the agricultural prehistoric period. Animal bones and lithic artefacts from the Gravettian and Aurignacian, associated with anatomically modern humans, as well as the Micoquian, attributed to Neanderthals, were recovered from the lower layers.

Several institutions are involved in the research: the Institute of Archaeology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences; Australian Museum Research Institute; Australian National University; University of Sydney; University of Melbourne; University of Paris; University of Vienna; Cambridge University; Max Planck Institute; Griffith University; Department of Archaeology at the Faculty of Archaeology of the University of Science and Technology in Nitra; Institute of Geology of the CAS; Faculty of Science at Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic; State Geological Institute of Dionýz Štúr, University of Science and Technology in Bratislava; and the Slovak Museum of Nature Conservation and Cave Building.

Fig. 3. Trench profile.

Reference:

Kaminská/Kozłowski/Svoboda 2005 – Ľ. Kaminská/J. K. Kozłowski/J. A. Svoboda: Sequence of Palaeolithic occupations. In: Ľ. Kaminská/J. K. Kozłowski/J. A. Svoboda (eds.). Pleistocene Environments and Archaeology of the Dzeravá skala Cave, Lesser Carpathians, Slovakia. Kraków 2005, 7–58.

Adrián Nemergut