South Central Europe (28,577 – 7,822 BCE) Upper Pleistocene II — Deglaciation, Lake Basins, and Terrace Camps

Geographic and Environmental Context

• Anchors: the Inn–Adige (Etsch)–Brenner and Reschen passes (Tyrol), the St. Gotthard (Reuss–Ticino trunk), the Great St. Bernard–Valais–Rhône gateway, the Swiss Plateau (Zürich–Bern–Aare), the Upper Rhine headwaters, the Drava–Carinthia valleys, and the Lake Constance–Rheintal–Liechtenstein hinge.

• Bølling–Allerød warming expanded forests; Younger Dryas briefly reversed; Early Holocene warmth stabilized lakes and rivers.

Subsistence & Settlement

• Broad-spectrum foraging: red deer, wild boar, fish and waterfowl; nut gathering in mixed forests.

• Seasonal lake-edge camps and rock shelters proliferated.

Technology & Material Culture

• Microblades continued; bone harpoons and gorges; early dugouts for lake/river mobility.

Movement & Interaction Corridors

• St. Gotthard, Great St. Bernard, Brenner/Reschen reopened seasonally; Rheintal and Aare axes integrated plateau and passes.

Cultural & Symbolic Expressions

• Lakeside ritual deposits; ochred burials; incised bone/antler.