Palaeoenvironmental, stratigraphic and geochronological study of the coastal site of Dalani i Vogël (Vlora, Albania): new evidence for late Neanderthal occupation and prehistoric archaeology

The Balkan Peninsula is a key biogeographical region in Southern Europe, which acted as a refugium for flora and fauna and favoured the dispersal of Neanderthals and the migration of modern human populations. This study focused on the site of Dalani i Vogël (DIV), selected from a cluster of coastal sites north of Vlora (Triporti-Portonovo area, Albania), where lithic assemblages, initially collected by amateurs and later identified, lacked their original chronostratigraphic and palaeoenvironmental context. The DIV sequence was sampled for geochronological analyses (OSL and 14C), magnetic susceptibility, sedimentary proxies (LOI steps, calcimetry, nutrients), microstratigraphy, micropaleontology and microbotanical analyses. This exploratory multi-proxy study revealed a long sequence spanning almost continuously the last 43,000 years, i.e., the period from MIS 3 to 1. Palynological data, although sparse at some intervals due to the poor preservation of palynomorphs, generally corroborate the chronological data and help to interpret the palaeoenvironment. During MIS 3, between at least 42,900 and 38,700 years BP, Neanderthals have occupied the area in a context of mainly open and patchy environments. During the Late Glacial, steppe environments were established at the time of the Heinrich Stadial 1, i.e. 16,200 ± 600 yrs BP. The beginning of the Holocene favoured an ecological transition from steppe to grassland vegetation communities, the latter being much more prone to wildfires. Vertic soils that developed at this time were then eventually subjected to erosion processes that resulted in a hiatus of several millennia. An Early Neolithic settlement associated with impresso pottery made its apearance in the area in a context of mixed open woodland, which included deciduous trees and sclerophylls, further changing to drier and more anthropised contexts. Considering the geographical position of Albania, the chronostartigraphic and paleoenvironmental context obtained from this study is expected to shed new light on the Middle-Upper Palaeolithic transition and human dynamics that occurred in the SE-Europe during MIS 3 to 1.