PALAEOLITHIC SITES NEAR THE BALAMUTIVKA VILLAGE

Abstract

The paper deals with the Palaeolithic materials found on the right bank of the Dniester River, in the vicinity of the Balamutivka Village, Chernivtsi Oblast, since the 1950s. Several sites, which have been recently discovered here, are published in detail for the first time. Particular attention is paid to the finds of Palaeolithic flint artefacts from caves located near the village. Within the Balamutivka and further to the northeast, there are many Palaeolithic sites associated with Quaternary sediments of high (10—12) terraces. Because of the destruction of terraces and their slopes by landslides, the Palaeolithic flint artefacts lie on the surface there. An attribute analysis of the respective assemblages indicates a mixing of defining forms of different techno-complexes of the Middle — the end of the Upper Palaeolithic. In particular, the series includes convergent and sub-cross cores; carinated end-scraper, nosed end-scrapers; uni- and bidirectional sub-cylindrical cores, wide blades, combination tools — mostly burin + scraper; small-sized cores with one or two platforms, sub-cylindrical and narrow working surface, from which thin bladelet and microblade were knapped; microliths (including «Dufour», counter-retouch backing microliths), a Lacan-type burin (?). In the caves, the knapped flints also did not occur in situ but got there from the surface of the terraces together with the loose terrace sediments due to water erosion and landslides. The caves are not suitable for habitation by humans or large predators because of their small size and hydrogeological regime (periodic flooding). The area of Balamutivka Village is interesting and promising for further investigation of the Palaeolithic of the Middle Dniester region. The typological diversity of the finds from the studied locations evidences the presence of multilayer sites.