Abstract
The region of western Georgia (Imereti) in the Southern Caucasus has been a major geographic corridor for human migrations during the Middle and Upper Paleolithic. Data of recent research and excavations in this region display its importance as a possible route for the dispersal of anatomically modern humans (AMH) into northern Eurasia. Nevertheless, within the local research context, bone-working and personal ornaments have yet contributed but little to the Upper Palaeolithic (UP) regional sequence’s characterization. Here we present an archaeozoological, technological and use-wear study of pendants from two local UP assemblages, originating in the Dzudzuana Cave and Satsurblia Cave. The ornaments were made mostly of perforated teeth, though some specimens were made on bone. Both the manufacturing marks made during preparation and use-wear traces indicate that they were personal ornaments, used as pendants or attached to garments. Detailed comparison between ornament assemblages from northern and southern Caucasus reveal that they are quite similar, supporting the observation of cultural bonds between the two regions, demonstrated previously through lithic techno-typological affinities. Furthermore, our study highlights the importance attributed to red deer (Cervus elaphus) by the UP societies of the Caucasus in sharing aesthetic values and/or a symbolic sphere.
Funder
Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades
Agència de Gestió d’Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca
Publisher
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Reference148 articles.
1. The implications of the Middle-Upper Palaeolithic chronological boundary in the Caucasus to Eurasian Prehistory;O Bar-Yosef;L’Anthropologie,2006
2. Ahead of the Game: Middle and Upper Palaeolithic Hunting Behaviors in the Southern Caucasus;Daniel S. Adler;Current Anthropology,2006
3. Dating the demise: Neandertal extinction and the establishment of modern humans in the southern Caucasus;DS Adler;Journal of Human Evolution,2008
4. The role of the southern Caucasus on early human evolution and expansion—refuge, hub or source area?;AA Bruch;Antiquity,2014
5. A revised AMS and tephra chronology for the Late Middle to Early Upper Paleolithic occupations of Ortvale Klde, Republic of Georgia;VL Cullen;Journal of Human Evolution,2021
Cited by
12 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献