Abstract
At least 10 early Upper Paleolithic (EUP) open-air sites are found at Kostenki on the west bank of the Don River in Russia. During the 1950s, A.N. Rogachev excavated concentrations of horse bones and teeth from EUP layers at Kostenki 14 and 15 exhibiting the characteristics of kill-butchery assemblages. Excavations at Kostenki 12 in 2002-2003 uncovered a large quantity of reindeer and horse bones in EUP Layer III that also might be related to kill-butchery events, and the partial skeleton of a sub-adult mammoth excavated during 2004-2007 in EUP Layer V at Kostenki 1 yields traces of butchery. The character of these large mammal assemblages - combined with the analysis of artifacts and features - suggests that both habitation areas and kill-butchery locations are represented in a "EUP landscape" at Kostenki.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 1073-1089 |
Number of pages | 17 |
Journal | Journal of Archaeological Science |
Volume | 37 |
Issue number | 5 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - May 2010 |
Keywords
- Early upper Paleolithic
- Eastern Europe
- Kill-butchery sites
- Zooarchaeology
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Archaeology
- Archaeology