Numerous recent studies have been focused on the last glacial period and its impact on human adaptation. The results turned out to be legitimately sufficient due to the relatively broad preserved...Show moreNumerous recent studies have been focused on the last glacial period and its impact on human adaptation. The results turned out to be legitimately sufficient due to the relatively broad preserved archaeological record (Gamble et al. 2004, 244-247). Nevertheless not all parts of the Palaeolithic Europe have been well investigated like Germany, France and the Iberian Peninsula. This BA thesis gives an insight in the Upper Palaeolithic hunter and gatherer societies of the Northwestern part of the Balkan, including Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia & Herzegovina, during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), dating from 26.5ka to approximately 19ka calendar years ago. The primary research will discuss the hypothesis whether the latter named regions were a possible refugium for hunter and gatherer communities from north and central Europe. An inventory of Upper Palaeolithic sites located in the Northwestern Balkan region, provived a set of data including the faunal remains, the lithic industries and the stratigraphical sequences. The outcome resulted in a divided conclusion, on the one hand stating that all 7 sites included in the inventory yielded traces of hominid occupation corresponding with a frequently occupated Balkan region during the entire Last Glacial Maximum. The inventory data on the other hand, did not prove the presence or origin from Central European hominids. Whereas the traces of occupation could have also been from indigenous localities. More specialistic research focused on genetic DNA shall reveal these ambiguities in the future.Show less