Ljubljana, Slovenia

The last PalaeoChron sampling trip of 2015 was to Ljubljana in Slovenia. As usual, we are interested in Late Mousterian and Early Upper Palaeolithic contexts there. The site of Divje Babe 1 has some important Mousterian levels within its several metres of cultural sequence. Widely known for its controversial Neanderthal 'bone flute', the site is dominated by the remains of bear (99% of the fauna!). Our task was to find humanly-modifed and cut-marked bone that would help us to date the archaeological occupations. This was a difficult, but not impossible, task.

With our colleagues Matija Turk (above left with Tash), Peter Turk, Boštjan Odar and Simona Petru, we spent a couple of days in Ljubljana working at the National Museum.

Ljubljana in winter is beautiful, with christmas markets in full swing, lights everywhere, choirs singing and mulled wine being sold (and drunk!). The only problem we encountered was lost luggage. Our bags stayed in Paris during our transfer from our London flight to the Llubljana flight. The luggage contained our drills and all equipment. We only got the suitcases upon leaving from Ljubljana airport on the way home again!