Folia archeologica 38.
THE PILISSZÁNTÓ — I. ROCK-SIIELTER REVISION 11 phase of the Würm. 2 1 This is the last of the three interstadials intercalated between the four cold continental phases of the Würm. In the higher regions of the mountains there were continental coniferous forests (taiga), while on the southern slopes and in the lower regions there were hot very dense deciduous coniferous and mixed decidous forests, with extensive thin brushwood. The characteristic vegetation of the hilly regions and lowlands was the climatic steppe. This was the most arid and most continental of the three interstadials, though its temperature was not too low. 2 2 1970. In his summary written on the history of research of the Palaeolithic in Hungary between 1945 and 1968, Gábori expressed his regret on the lack of new advances in the study of the "Höhlengravettian" group excavated in the caves of NE Transdanubia. According to him the most relevant question on the assemblage of finds is whether the population which lived in the Würm 3 maximum period belonged to a Gravettian group with a specialized way of life or whether its culture should be linked to the industries of open-air sites. This cave sites were only temporary hunters camps. 2 3 1977. In this year Gábori published a rewiew of the most significant archaeological results of the Hungarian speleological research. While in his earlier revier the possible connection between the Pilisszántó-type find assemblages and the open-air sites was merely a hypothesis, here it is presented as a probable fact, even though Gábori adds that it needs further proof. Gábori attributes one of the characteristic features of the group that the caves contain only backed blades and micro-points, to the topographical position of the caves; the sites lie on the slopes of the fringes of mountains, facing to open lowlands. He thinks that it was the activity in the caves which was specific and not the population itself. 2 4 1978. In his discussion of the Late Palaeolithic of the Pannonian Basin, J. K. Kozlowski criticizes Vértes and Gábori because of their ideas on Swiderian influences on the Pilisszántó culture. Kozlowski thinks that the flat retouch applie on the ventral faces of the bases of small backed blades originated rather from the Willendorfian. 2 5 1979. In his comprehensive study, D. Jánossy, the other participant of the 1951 excavation, divides the layer sequence of the small rear "niche" of the cave into three parts, following Kormos' division. On the basis of the extremely rich fauna the first faunal level of the Late Würm (Upper Pleistocene, phase "C" represents an arctic tundra, i. e. the Pilisszántó fauna phase. 2 0 (This fauna phase will be discussed in detail by István Vörös; see below) 2 1 Stieber 1967, Tabl. I-II. 2 2 Stieber 1967, 314. 2 3 Gábori 1970, 363. 2 4 Gábori 1977, 37-38. 2 5 J. К. Ko?lowski 1968, 55-56. 2 6 The Pilisszántó fauna phase was introduced by KRETZOI, M. in: Kretxpi- Vértes 1965; Jánossy 1979, 178.
