The first archaeological survey and excavations of the Old Stone Age (Paleolithic) in the R. of Macedonia has begun towards the end of the 20th century. During the last three years prospection of 32 caves and rockshalters was carried out. The potentional sites were separated from the unpotentional. Open area sites were not registered until now. Preliminary results were gathered from the probe excavations in the Golema Pest cave, pointing to a multilayered Paleolithic site. The project “Archaeological excavation and exploration in the Golema Pest cave”, near village of Zdunje, the Porece region in the Western Macedonia, some 65 km southwest from the capital Skopje, was carried out in the years of 2003, 2004 and 2005. Nineteen geological layers were separated. On a small area of 6m2, 6000 stone artifacts and 4900 fauna remains were discovered into six geological layers. The cave was not excavated to the bottom. The lithic industry was discovered together with the fauna remains. Among the fauna material, the following species were discovered: dear (Cervus elaphus), doe (Capreolus capreolus), Alpine ibex (Capra ibex), wild boar (Sus scrofa), cave hyena (Crocuta sp.), cave bear (Ursus sp.), beaver (Castor fiber), birds (Aves indet.), and turtle (Testudo sp.). In the layers 6 and 5b a Middle Paleolithic industry with levallois and discoid conception and with mycrodimenzioned artifacts typical for the Mycromousterian was confirmed. The AMC analysis has revealed two dates: 47.100±4800 and < 50.000 BC. Ljiljana Salamanov Korobar, Curator of Paleolithic Period

Since 1999, ten research projects have been conducted at the Paleolithic site Golema Pesht, near the village Zdunje in Makedonski Brod. The stratigraphic image is composed of 21 layers, reaching to the depth of 5.5 m. The sedimentation is mostly silt and sand with the éboulis (roof rock) of ~ 0.01 cm to > 1 m in diameter. The lithic archaeological material is typologically and technologically connected with the periods of the Late, transition from Middle to Late and Middle Paleolithic. The primary raw material in the assemblage is quartz, and less frequent are quartzite, flint, rhyolite, basalt and jasper. The research campaigns of 2013/2016 and 2018 did not include classical archaeological excavations. The applied methodology allowed opportunities and conditions for acquisition and documentation of samples from the sedimentation of the stratigraphic layers and their transport to multiple laboratories for further analyses. During the research campaigns, samples of sediment were taken for CI tephra dating (volcanic ash), electron spin resonance (ESR), and animal teeth from the previous excavation were selected. According to the present measurements, the layer 2 of trench 2 belongs to volcanic ash from ~39/40.000 BC (MIS 3 = 58-28 ka), at the depth of 196 cm. The sample of molar from bovid (tooth from cattle?) taken from the depth of 223-235 cm according to the ESR calculation belongs to 62.000-83.000 BC (MIS 4 = 75/72-58 ka and MIS 5a = 84-75/72 ka), with the error of 21.000 years. There is still a need of better understanding of how the bones, bone ash, volcanic ash (tephra) and éboulis (roof rock) change with heating, calcination and diagenetic change, particularly how they affect the leakage, absorption, as well as their rates and uncertainties of uranium, thorium and kalium.