The international workshop ‘Origin and Development of the Eurasian Initial Upper Palaeolithic’, organized by UISPP Commission 8 and hosted in Dryanovo (Bulgaria) from 15 to 17 October, gathered a select group of specialists devoted to the earliest Upper Palaeolithic phases in Eurasia. Coordinated by Tsenka Tsanova, the meeting provided an inspiring forum for interdisciplinary dialogue on technological systems, chronology, and the human contexts marking the Middle–Upper Palaeolithic transition.
Presentations spanned Western Europe to Central and Eastern Asia, highlighting the diversity of cultural trajectories and human adaptations at the dawn of the Upper Palaeolithic. Discussions emphasized the definition and variability of the IUP concept and its relationships to early Homo sapiens dispersals.
The workshop proceedings will be published in 2026 in the ‘ArchéLogiques’ series, compiling concise contributions that synthesize current data and outline future research directions on the Eurasian Initial Upper Palaeolithic.