The Bistrița Valley is located in the north-east of Romania, crossing the entire Eastern Carpathian chain. To the Palaeolithic communities in Eastern and Central Europe, the Carpathian arc must have been a difficult obstacle to overcome. In the mountain sector of the Bistrița Valley, the two areas of concentration of Palaeolithic settlements – the Răpciuni Basin (Ceahlău) and Bicaz-Izvorul Alb – have been variously addressed in terms of the extent of the archaeological investigations. In this study we have tried to take a different view regarding the definition and chrono-cultural sequence of Palaeolithic sites in the mountain sector of the Bistrița Valley. The idea of the existence of an Aurignacian in this area has been abandoned, as the arguments provided by the absolute chronology definitely exclude such an assumption, whereas the occupations attributed to the Gravettian have been adapted to the sequence of this culture at Poiana Cireșului. Therefore, one may now speak of a Gravettian I and II in the Ceahlău Basin.
Cârciumaru et al. (Sun,) studied this question.