The Balkans

Schela Cladovei belongs to a series of well-known Late Mesolithic and Early Neolithic sites along a stretch of the Danube River in and near gorges through the Carpathian-Balkan mountain chain known as the Iron Gates region. However, the Schela Cladovei Mesolithic sample is an exception, being as tall, on average, as Early Upper Paleolithic (UP) samples from other parts of Europe, and taller than other Late UP samples. Thus, the decline in stature during the Terminal Pleistocene and early Holocene characteristic of Western Europe does not appear to apply to this region, although without UP material from the Balkans it is difficult to evaluate temporal trends in this area. The two available skeletal samples for the Balkans region represent two very different time periods, subsistence strategies, and likely genetic heritages. They share some similarities in that both lived in a rugged physical environment and neither practiced food production, that is, agriculture.