Predmostí is an early modern human Upper Paleolithic site, located in the Moravian region of what is today the Czech Republic. The site consists of three separate sites, clustered around two limestone formations of the southern entrance of the Moravian Gate.
Occupations in evidence at the site include two Upper Paleolithic (Gravettian) occupations, dated between 24,000-27,000 years BP, indicating the Gravettian culture people lived a long time at PredmostÃ.
Predmostí and Archaeology
Site components include a cemetery, dwellings, hearths, and mammoth bone with evidence that they had been exposed extensive burning (i.,e., they'd likely been cooked). Over a thousand mammoths are represented at the site. Stone and bone tools and artifacts were found within the sites, including figurines. Animal bones found were mostly mammoth and fox, but also reindeer, horse, wolf, bear, wolverine, and hare.
Predmostí's cemetery held 20 burials, including 15 complete human interments, and portions of five others, representing either disturbed or secondary burials. Unlike other Moravian Gravettian cemeteries, no red ochre and very few grave goods were interred with the individuals. Many burials were incomplete or disturbed, leading early researchers to consider cannibalism, although most do not accept this interpretation.
Dogs at Predmosti
Seven complete large canid skulls were recovered from the Gravettian levels at Predomsti, and together they provide evidence of early dog domestication. Three of the skulls are identified as European Paleolithic dogs, characterized by shorter skulls and snouts than those of the wild wolves. One of the skulls is a Pleistocene wolf; the others could not be assigned to one or the other. This may show, say Germonpre and colleagues, evidence of the process of domestication.
Excavations at Predmostí were conducted between 1884 and 1930. 1990s excavations have been assembled and reported by Jiri Svoboda.
Sources
Part of the About.com Guide to the Middle Paleolithic.
Germonpré M, Láznicková-Galetová M, and Sablin MV. 2012. Palaeolithic dog skulls at the Gravettian Predmostà site, the Czech Republic. Journal of Archaeological Science 39(1):184-202.
Svoboda JA. 2007. The Gravettian on the Middle Danube. Paleobiology 19:203-220.
Svoboda JA. 2008. The Upper Paleolithic burial area at PredmostÃ: ritual and taphonomy. Journal of Human Evolution 54(1):15-33.
VelemÃnská J, Bružek J, VelemÃnský P, Bigoni L, Å efcákováe A, and Katina S. 2008. Variability of the Upper Palaeolithic skulls from Predmostà near Prerov (Czech Republic): Craniometric comparison with recent human standards. HOMO - Journal of Comparative Human Biology 59(1):1-26.
