East Central Europe (28,577 – 7,822 BCE) Upper Pleistocene II — Deglaciation, Pioneer Foragers, and Loess Landscapes

Geographic and Environmental Context

East Central Europe includes Turkey-in-Europe (Thrace); Greece’s Thrace; Bulgaria (except its southwest); Romania & Moldova; northeastern Serbia; northeastern Croatia; extreme northeastern Bosnia & Herzegovina.

• Anchors: Upper Danube–Vienna Basin, Moravian Gate, Bohemian Basin, Upper/Middle Elbe, Oder–Vistula plains, Carpathian Basin (Hungary/Slovakia), Polish uplands, German lowlands, Sudetes/Tatra forelands.

• Retreating glaciers reshaped Danube–Morava–Vistula valleys.

• Large proglacial lakes dotted southern Poland, Moravia, Slovakia.

Climate & Environmental Shifts

• Bølling–Allerød: warmer, wetter, woodland expansion.

• Younger Dryas: steppe returned briefly.

• Early Holocene warmth advanced broadleaf forests.

Subsistence & Settlement

• Broad-spectrum foragers hunted elk, red deer, aurochs; fished rivers; gathered nuts and berries.

• Seasonal lakeside camps in Poland, Moravia, Danube basin.

Technology & Material Culture

• Refined microliths; fishing gear (bone harpoons); ornamental amber/teeth pendants.

• Ochre continued in burials.

Movement & Interaction Corridors

• Vistula–Oder–Elbe routes integrated north–south mobility; Danube–Morava linked Balkans and Central Europe.

Cultural & Symbolic Expressions

• Engraved antler, stone; ritualized hearths at campsites; rock shelters with engravings.