EXPLORATIONS IN THE KOZARNIKA CAVE (Nikolai Sirakov – nikolaysirakov@gmail.com, Jean-Luc Guadelli) Beginning of the Middle Paleolithic period – Material from the beginning of the Middle Paleolithic sequence was discovered. The archaeological assemblage shows a well developed Levallois technique. Unlike the later Mousterian assemblages, there were flint artifacts typical of the lower stratum of the end of the Lower Paleolithic period within the assemblage from the beginning of the Middle Paleolithic sequence. This situation suggests relations between cultural traditions of the end of the Lower and the beginning of the Middle Paleolithic period. End of the Lower Paleolithic period – The results provided an absolute dating of the Lower Paleolithic period in stratum 11c: between 900 and 600 ka BP. The stone assemblage of facies of stratum 11a is of interest: it is typical of the Lower Paleolithic period, but includes elements close to the Middle Paleolithic period and represents a ‘proto-Mousterian’ stage in the transition from the Lower to the Middle Paleolithic periods. The Balkan Mousterian assemblages have analogies in Southern Anatolia. The materials in both regions known so far were dated after 130 ka BP and the directions of the contacts were unclear. The data from the Kozarnika Cave suggests an influence from the Balkans to the Middle East in the earlier stage of the Middle Paleolithic period. Beginning of the Lower Paleolithic period – Borsodia arancoides, Borsodia hungarica, Lagurodon arankae, Lagurodon praepannonica, Villanya exilis, Hungaromys nanus, and materials of Early Pleistocene fauna: unknown species of small horses (Equus cf. stenonis), goats (Hemitragus nov. sp.), small lynx (Lynx sp.), were found in the earliest stratum 13. They allow stratum 13 to be related to the beginning of the Early Pleistocene, i.e. the beginning of the Lower Paleolithic period in the Kozarnika Cave dates between 1.6 and 1.4 Ma BP. A phalanx of a marmot with cut-marks from skinning was found in stratum 13. This is the earliest evidence for animal skinning.