Lincombian-Ranisian-Jerzmanowician (LRJ) was a culture or technocomplex (industry) dating to the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic, about 45,000 years ago. It is characterised by leaf points made on long blades, which were traditionally thought to have been made by the last Neanderthals, although some researchers have suggested that it could be a culture of the first anatomically modern humans in Europe. It is rarely found, but extends across northwest Europe from Wales to Poland.[1][2][3]
Major sites
The cave in Ranis in Thuringia
The technocomplex is named after findings in Kents Cavern, Lincombe Hill, Torquay (Devon, England), the cave of Ilsenhöhle in Ranis (Thuringia, Germany), and the Jerzmanowicien cave in Ojców (Kraków County, Poland). About 40 different sites have been identified.[4] At Ilsenhöhle, an excavation conducted from 2016 to 2022 found fossils containing Homo sapiens DNA in a layer of sediment that also contained stone tools.[3]
Evidence for modern humans
In an article in Nature in 2024, researchers reported that they had found mitochondrial DNA of modern humans in bones from Ranis cave dated to around 45,000 years ago, providing evidence both for the association of LRJ with modern humans, and that they reached the higher latitudes of Europe by this early date.[5]
^Ashton, Nick (2017). Early Humans. London: William Collins. p. 315. ISBN978-0-00-815035-8.
^Flas, Damien (5 December 2011). "The Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition in Northern Europe: the Lincombian-Ranisian-Jerzmanowician and the issue of acculturation of the last Neanderthals". World Archaeology. 43 (4): 605–627. doi:10.1080/00438243.2011.624725. S2CID162261765.
^Flas, Damien. 2006. La transition du Paléolithique moyen au supérieur dans la plaine septentrionale de l'Europe. Les problématiques du Lincombien-Ranisien-Jerzmanowicien. PhD diss., Université de Liège, Belgium.
