NEANDERTHALS AND UPPER PALEOLITHIC IN VIN DIJA CAVE, CROATIA - CONTROVERSIES ABOUT LAYER G1

Vindija Cave in Hrvatsko Zagorje (Northwestem Croatia), Is one of the rare sites where the possible association between Neanderthals and Upp er Palaeolithic assemblage has been found. Up to now, this association was often questioned because cryoturbations were present in a part of the cave. The arguments which are presented in this paper suggest the possibility that Neanderthals have made Upper Palaeolithic tools, may be by imitating the tools of modern men. The verification of the conte mporaneity of the neanderthal mandible fragment (Vi 207) and of the sp lit-base bone point (Vi 3437) found side by side was realized by the n on destructive spectrometry method, but, unfortunately the results wer e not decisive. We must emphasize that the assemblage from layer G1 yi elds lithic tools of Mousterian tradition as well as Upper Palaeolithi c stone and bone tools: this emergence is a regional character, typica l for the beginning of Upper Palaeolithic in Northwestern Croatia and Slovenia.