Environmental conditions on the corridor of human migration between 40,000 and 14,000 a BP in the Balkan region. A multi-proxy approach on loess-paleosol profiles

This contribution focuses on two PhD projects, which are integrated within the collaborative research centre 806 “Our way to Europe” at the University of Cologne and the RWTH Aachen University (Germany). The main research focus is the migration of anatomical modern human (AMH) to Europe. We concentrate on the paleoenvironmental conditions on the route through southeastern Europe. This links the region with the earliest fossils of Homo sapiens sapiens (so far known) in the Middle East, Anatolia, the Northwestern Black Sea, the Balkans and the Pannonian Basin. One PhD topic deals with the sedimentological and geochemical approach mainly from loess and loess-like sediments to reconstruct the paleoenvironmental conditions; the other PhD topic places an emphasis on the exact timing of those sedimentary records via luminescence dating. In particular the investigation of loess-paleosol sequences plays a central role. Geoarchives in Hungary, Serbia and Romania are of main interest for the project. The investigations will focus mainly on the loess and loess like sediments. However, data will be compared to further geoarchives, such as lacustrine sediments, speleothemes and marine records, to get a complete insight into the climatic evolution. First analyses include the loess-paleosol sequences at Bodrogkereztúr (Hungary, east of Miskolz), Orlovat (Serbia, north of Belgrade), Ságvár (Hungary, southeast of Lake Balaton), and Stalać (Serbia, confluence of South and West Morava).