This grant provides funds to allow 30 radiocarbon determinations to be made on organic materials from the archaeological site of Mitoc Malu Galben which is located in Northeast Romania. This site, which contains at least 10 meters of stratified deposit, rich in both cultural and faunal remains, spans the transition from "Neandertals" to modern humans. It contains cultural materials from the Mousterian period (associated with Neanderthals) through the Gravettian and Aurignacian cultures. Both of the latter are associated with modern humans. Although some radiocarbon dates have already been obtained these are too few in number to properly date the entire sequence and this grant will remedy that situation. While archaeologists have worked for over 100 yers in Western Europe, the Central European sequence is very poorly known. To get a broader picture of what happened in Europe over this long span of time, this latter data is crucial and the Romanian site, because it is so deeply stratified and so rich in cultural remains is extremely important. Therefore these dates are justified. Anthropologists want to know where and when modern humans appeared and the process which led to this. Thus sites which span the Neanderthal . modern human transition are extremely important and justify focussed research. The new dates, together with continued excavation at the site should yield extremely valuable data.
