HUNTING PROJECTILE WEAPONRY OF BYKI LATE UPPER PALEOLITHIC SITES (CENTER OF EASTERN EUROPE): THE COEXISTENCE OF BONE AND FLINT POINTS (original) (raw)
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2017
espanolEl articulo trata de un complejo especifico de yacimientos de Byki del Paleolitico Superior Reciente, situado en la cuenca del rio Seim, en el centro de Europa del Este. La caracteristica principal de los yacimientos Byki 1, 2, 3, 7 (horizontes culturales I y Ia) es la presencia de microlitos geometricos (triangulos) en su industria de silex. Las fechas de radiocarbono sin calibrar se distribuyen entre 18000 y 16000 BP. Losvisitantes humanos del Paleolitico Superior Reciente en los yacimientos de Byki no han estado viviendo alli durante mucho tiempo. Las colecciones de fauna se caracterizan por el predominio de especies de ungulados y animales de caza, mientras que el resto de los yacimientos conocidos del final del ultimo Glacial en el centro de Europa del Este y en la cuenca del rio Seim muestran una clara prevalencia del mamut. El objetivo del presente estudio es comprender la relacion entre los proyectiles de caza de hueso y de silex de los yacimientos de Byki. Nuestro es...
The originality of the Byki sites among known LGM industries on the Russian Plain
Quaternary International, 2020
A specific Late Upper Paleolithic Byki site complex is located in the Seim River basin, in the center of Eastern Europe. It consists of four sites with preserved cultural layers. They are designated as Byki 1, Peny (Byki 4), Byki 5, Byki 7. Materials from other four sites (Byki 2, Byki 3, Byki 6 and Byki 8) are represented only by surface finds. Radiocarbon uncalibrated dates for major Byki sites are in between 18 and 16000 BP. Late Upper Paleolithic human occupations at Byki sites have been of a short-termed character. Byki site fauna collections are characterized by a dominance of ungulate and fur game species, while the most known LGM sites in the center of Eastern Europe and in the Seim river basin show a clear prevalence of mammoth. The Byki sites can be divided into 2 groups in accordance with the features of stone inventory. The sites of Byki-5, 6, 7 (cultural layer II) and Byki-8 are represent lamellar flint industries with a dominance of burins and backed bladelets among tools. This is also characteristic of other LGM sites in the center of Eastern Europe. At the same time, the materials of the sites of Peny, Byki 1, 2, 3 and Byki 7 (cultural layers I, Ib, Ia and Ic) sites are related to Byki archaeological culture. There were already identified the following two tool categories serving as cultural indicators for the discussing archaeological culture: flint triangles of Byki type and bone/antler elongated points of Byki type with a one-sided natural groove. Byki bone/antler points and flint triangles do not correspond to the already known other tool types serving as "cultural-chronological markers" for various known European Late Upper Paleolithic industries. It is suggested that the discussing originality of Byki site artifacts is associated with local characteristics of natural environment and hunting pattern leading to development of some specific and optimal projectile weapons.
EARLY MESOLITHIC BONE ARROWHEADS FROM THE VOLGA-OKA INTERFLUVE, CENTRAL RUSSIA
Fennoscandia archaeologica XXXII, 2015
Several different types of bone arrowheads were produced and used during the Early Mesolithic in the Volga-Oka interfluve. In this paper, recent research on these artefacts is reviewed, and their means of manufacture and ways of use determined through microscopy and experimental research. The research highlights the skill of the Early Mesolithic inhabitants of the Volga-Oka interfluve in manufacturing bone arrowheads, used for hunting various animals. A similarity was observed between the flint industry of pre-boreal sites of the Volga-Oka region and those of southern Finland, especially with respect to tanged flint arrowheads. The similarity suggests that the Early Mesolithic population of southern Finland and Karelian Isthmus most probably produced and used bone arrowheads similar to those described in the article. However, because bone artefacts are generally missing in the latter regions because of acrid soils, the conclusion should be regarded as a working hypothesis.
Atypical use of bone objects of known forms from some East European Upper Paleolithic sites
The paper represents an analysis of some atypical use-wear traces on bone objects from the following East European Upper Paleolithic sites – Zaraysk, Gonzy, Anetovka-2, Byki-1, Byki-7 (layer I), Byki 7 (layer Ia). Particularly, the analyzed bone objects do represent specific cases when shape of an object does not give us a clue on its use or function. Indeed, some morphologically similar objects could have different functions. That’s why it is important to realize that nowadays we, the XXIst century people, are not always able to imagine a real use variability of many Paleolithic worked bone pieces.
Journal of European Archaeology, 2022
At Supraśl 3 in northeastern Poland, four Bell Beaker features contained small quantities of burnt and highly fragmented human and animal bones and various, mostly fragmented, artefacts. These assemblages included twenty-four flint arrowheads, most of which bore traces of grinding, though not all were ground to the same extent. A comprehensive macroscopic and microscopic analysis was undertaken to determine the process of shaping these arrowheads and the possible reasons for grinding them, especially as no local flint working was recorded at the site. The authors suggest that the grinding of arrowheads reflects both practical and ritual concerns, possibly originating in emulation of techniques used by the Rzucewo culture and signalling contacts with the wider Bell Beaker milieu.
This work is dedicated to the analysis of the manufacture technology and use-wear of the non-utilitarian bones (ornamented artifacts, beads) from the Late Upper Paleolithic site of Byki-7(I). This site is located on left bank of the Seim river in the Desna basin (Russia). The date of Byki-7(I) was generated through the analysis of horse and reindeer bones by L. Sulerzhitsky: 17 000 ± 90 BP. The article is devoted to the first truly figurative artifact from this location: a large ivory ring with a sculptural top shaped like a horse's head. The zoomorphic figurine is significant in that it may provide certain information concerning the beliefs of the seasonal camp's dwellers. In the sites of the Desna basin of this period, works of figurative art are rare. The large ivory ring from Byki-7 with a top shaped like a horse's head is unique for the Upper Paleolithic of Europe. The uniqueness of this zoomorphic figurine reflects the uniqueness of the flint industry, with geometrical microlithics, of Buki-7.
Archaeologia Polona
The aim of the article is to present and characterize the collection of flint axes made of Cretaceous flint from the interfluve of the Bug River and Neman that morphologically resemble the forms from the Neolithic cultures of the Polish Lowland (the Funnel Beaker Culture, Globular Amphorae Culture and Corded Ware Cultures). This group of objects consists of 10 items found in the Podlasie region. The presented axes are a small part of a large collection (50 flint axes) exhibited in the Museum of Podlasie in Bialystok. A new term for local Cretaceous flint has been introduced for the purpose of this study. Until now, this type of flint was known as Northeastern Flint, and although research to define this term has been done, it has never been fully finalized. Because of that, the author of this study has coined a new and more suitable term: Cretaceous flint from the interfluve of the Bug River and Neman. This includes a group of Cretaceous flints from the Podlasie area and contains all...
The camp of Upper Palaeolithic hunters in Targowisko
This paper presents the results of use-wear analysis of a flint inventory from the Late Glacial open-air site Targowisko 10, located ca. 30 km east of Cracow, S Poland. The site represents a temporary camp of Upper Palaeolithic hunters from the 15th millennium BP, whose activities were related to hunting horse and reindeer, as well as obtaining local flint from the nearby outcrop. A few concentrations of stone artefacts associated with the reduction of flint nodules and 5 hearths were discovered at the site within a clear spatial structure. The Palaeolithic assemblage consists of 4708 stone artefacts, mostly made of flint, and the remains of steppetundra animals: horse and reindeer. Based on spatial analysis of flint tools of particular function, unused artefacts and refitted objects we determined activities performed at the site and spots, where tools and wastes had been discarded. Clear spatial distribution of the structures and intensively worn tools enabled us to draw conclusions about the function of the site, to reconstruct its spatial organisation and the sequence of performed tasks.
Flint tools from the Stone Age in the Chełmno Land. Traseological study - summary
Narzędzia krzemienne w epoce kamie-nia na ziemi chełmińskiej. Studium traseologiczne, 2010
This is an English summary of the book under the title Narzędzia krzemienne w epoce kamienia na ziemi chełmińskiej. Studium traseologiczne which was published in 2010 by UMK University Press Toruń Grzegorz Osipowicz, Flint tools from the Stone Age in the Chełmno Land. Traseological study The study presented below can be inscribed into traseological research stream of flint inventory originating from the Stone Age. Its main purpose is multi-faceted functional analysis of products obtained in 31 archaeological sites, majority of which (29) are located in the area of Pojezierze Chełmińsko-Dobrzyńskiego (Chełmno-Dobrzyń Lake District), the territory of historic Chełmno Land, two of them are situated in the West of the Vistula River within Toruń-Eberswalde ancient River Bed and in the Lower Vistula Valley, (fig. 14). Chronological range of his paper is closed in the period between late Dryas and the Atlantic period and refers to three stages of human prehistory: the Late Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Early and Middle Neolithic eras. The described Late Paleolithic sites are connected with Swiderian culture, Mesolithic ones belong to various cultures (Sąsieczno, site 4, Toruń, site 247 -Komornickie collections; Lubicz sites 12, 13, 18so called Chojnicko-Pieńkowskie collections). Remarks concerning Neolithic era and its connections with earlier periods are based on flint material described by Jolanta Małecka-Kukawka (2001). Collections of two cultures' siteslinear pottery and funnel beaker -were taken into account. The paper consists of five chapters. First characterizes trasological method, secondpresents the results of archaeological experiments carried out. It also contains brief characteristics of usage traces registered on particular types of tools. Chapter three is a catalogue of archaeological sources describing flint material subjected to analysis reflecting its origin, chronology and cultural adherence. Last two chapters are of analytic character, first is devoted to principal problems resulting directly from microscope analysis of prehistoric tools, i.e. ways of manufacturing them and the rules of implementing flint tools as well as techniques of raw material processing in various cultures and chronological periods. Part of chapter 5 (5.1.-5.4.) touches technological and typological problems, puts questions concerning methods of flint material usage, morphological features common and separate for those tools and the modes of using various flint forms. Subsection 5.5. refers to analysis of sites' functional profile, variety