TY - JOUR

T1 - Nutzung der natürlichen Umwelt durch Neandertaler der Chagyrskaya-Höhle (Altai)

AU - Kolobova, Ksenia A.

AU - Chabai, Victor P.

AU - Shalagina, Alena V.

AU - Krajcarz, Maciej T.

AU - Krajcarz, Magdalena

AU - Rendu, William

AU - Vasiliev, Sergei V.

AU - Markin, Sergei V.

AU - Krivoshapkin, Andrei I.

N1 - Funding Information: Acknowledgments: The excavations at Chagyrskaya Cave were supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR), project number 18-09-00041. We are thankful to the Russian Science Foundation (RSF) – Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) Cooperation Project in Life Sciences, Social Sciences and Humanities, project number 19-48-04107 - UT 41/8-1 “The origin of the easternmost Neanderthals: comparative studies of the Sibiryachikha industry from the Russian Altai”, for support of the lithic and statistical analysis. Paleontological investigations and scar pattern analysis have been supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR), project number 18-09-40070. Geological study was supported by the National Science Centre, Poland, grant number 2018/29/B/ST10/00906. Zooar-chaeology study has been supported by LIA Artemir (CNRS) and CemeNTAA (ANR-14-CE31-0011). We thank two anonymous reviewers for their comments and suggestions. Publisher Copyright: © 2019 Hugo Obermaier-Society for Quaternary Research and Archaeology of the Stone Age. All rights reserved.

PY - 2019

Y1 - 2019

N2 - The article presents the first results of studies concerning the raw material procurement and fauna exploitation of the Easternmost Neanderthals from the Russian Altai. We investigated the Chagyrskaya Cave - a key-site of the Sibiryachikha Middle Paleolithic variant. The cave is known for a large number of Neanderthal remains associated with the Sibiryachikha techno-complex, which includes assemblages of both lithic artifacts and bone tools. According to our results, a Neanderthal population has used the cave over a few millennia. They hunted juvenile, semi-adult and female bisons in the direct vicinity of the site. Human impact on the paleontological remains provides additional evidence about the exploitation and consumption of at least part of the carcasses at the spot, which is characteristic for a consumption site. The first seasonal data available for the Altai Middle Paleolithic indicates that the death of the animals occurred at the end of the warm season, which corresponds to the annual migration of the Bison priscus from the plains to the Altai foothills. The results of the attribute analysis of lithic artifacts suggest that raw pebbles from the nearby riverbed had been transported to the cave in one piece. The spatial data, the large amounts of lithic tools, the presence of bones with cut marks as well as the quantity of bone tools indicate a high intensity of the cave occupations. The composition of the artifact assemblage from Chagyrskaya Cave is characterized by a relatively high percentage of tools and debitage and a low percentage of cores and bifacial tools. The large number of cortical flakes, a significant number of partly cortical flakes (including different varieties of debordant core-trimming elements), as well as the presence of bifacial thinning flakes and chips are a clear indication of on-site core reduction and tool production. The metrical parameters of the cortical and non-cortical regular flakes testify to the complete reduction sequence on the site. In order to produce tools, the biggest blanks available have been chosen intentionally. The results obtained from the assemblage from Chagyrskaya Cave do not fit to the existing functional variability of the Altai Middle Paleolithic, which was dominated by "ephemeral" hunting camps and base camps with relatively low-intensive raw material utilization. The techno-typological characteristics of the Chagyrskaya Cave assemblage are completely consistent with the characteristics of the Crimean Micoquian techno-complex, which is an integral part of the European Micoquian. With regard to the settlement pattern, Chagyrskaya Cave is typical for a recurrently visited base camp with the exploitation and consumption of animal carcasses and an intensive lithic reduction as well as bone tool production. Such a site function demonstrates a considerable overlap with the Eastern and Central European Micoquian.

AB - The article presents the first results of studies concerning the raw material procurement and fauna exploitation of the Easternmost Neanderthals from the Russian Altai. We investigated the Chagyrskaya Cave - a key-site of the Sibiryachikha Middle Paleolithic variant. The cave is known for a large number of Neanderthal remains associated with the Sibiryachikha techno-complex, which includes assemblages of both lithic artifacts and bone tools. According to our results, a Neanderthal population has used the cave over a few millennia. They hunted juvenile, semi-adult and female bisons in the direct vicinity of the site. Human impact on the paleontological remains provides additional evidence about the exploitation and consumption of at least part of the carcasses at the spot, which is characteristic for a consumption site. The first seasonal data available for the Altai Middle Paleolithic indicates that the death of the animals occurred at the end of the warm season, which corresponds to the annual migration of the Bison priscus from the plains to the Altai foothills. The results of the attribute analysis of lithic artifacts suggest that raw pebbles from the nearby riverbed had been transported to the cave in one piece. The spatial data, the large amounts of lithic tools, the presence of bones with cut marks as well as the quantity of bone tools indicate a high intensity of the cave occupations. The composition of the artifact assemblage from Chagyrskaya Cave is characterized by a relatively high percentage of tools and debitage and a low percentage of cores and bifacial tools. The large number of cortical flakes, a significant number of partly cortical flakes (including different varieties of debordant core-trimming elements), as well as the presence of bifacial thinning flakes and chips are a clear indication of on-site core reduction and tool production. The metrical parameters of the cortical and non-cortical regular flakes testify to the complete reduction sequence on the site. In order to produce tools, the biggest blanks available have been chosen intentionally. The results obtained from the assemblage from Chagyrskaya Cave do not fit to the existing functional variability of the Altai Middle Paleolithic, which was dominated by "ephemeral" hunting camps and base camps with relatively low-intensive raw material utilization. The techno-typological characteristics of the Chagyrskaya Cave assemblage are completely consistent with the characteristics of the Crimean Micoquian techno-complex, which is an integral part of the European Micoquian. With regard to the settlement pattern, Chagyrskaya Cave is typical for a recurrently visited base camp with the exploitation and consumption of animal carcasses and an intensive lithic reduction as well as bone tool production. Such a site function demonstrates a considerable overlap with the Eastern and Central European Micoquian.

KW - Altai

KW - Fauna and raw material exploitation altai

KW - Faunen- und rohmaterialnutzung

KW - Micoquian

KW - Micoquien

KW - Middle paleolithic

KW - Mittelpaläolithikum

KW - Neandertaler

KW - Neanderthals

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85114392547&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.7485/QU66_1

DO - 10.7485/QU66_1

M3 - статья

AN - SCOPUS:85114392547

VL - 66

SP - 7

EP - 31

JO - Quartar

JF - Quartar

SN - 0375-7471

ER -