Stone Age Ivory Points from the Arctic Zone of Northeast Asia-Reference-Cited by-同舟云学术

Stone Age Ivory Points from the Arctic Zone of Northeast Asia

Published:2024-01-03 Issue:4 Volume:51 Page:25-34
ISSN:1563-0110
Container-title:Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia
language:
Short-container-title:Arheol. ètnogr. antropol. Evrazii

Author:

Kandyba A. V.¹,Zotkina L. V.²^ORCID,Grigoriev S. E.³,Fedorov S. E.³^ORCID,Cheprasov M. Y.³^ORCID,Novgorodov G. P.³^ORCID,Petrozhitskiy A. V.⁴^ORCID,Kuleshov D. V.¹^ORCID,Parkhomchuk V. V.⁴^ORCID

Affiliation:

1. Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences

2. Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences; Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, “ArchaeoZOOlogy in Siberia and Central Asia” ZooSCAn International Research Laboratory, IRL 2013

3. Lazarev Mammoth Museum, Ammosov North-Eastern Federal University

4. Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences

Abstract

We give a technological and typological description of two well-preserved points (one fragmented rod-shaped, the other double-slotted), made of mammoth ivory and found in the Ust-Yansky District of Sakha-Yakutia in 2016. Traces evidencing various stages of manufacture are described in detail. A succession of technological operations is reconstructed, from the preparation of preforms and further processing by planing and abrasion to final polishing. Spall negatives on artifacts are interpreted as post-depositional damage that could have occurred from the effect of cryogenic processes in sediments. The slotted specimen is decorated with five finely engraved arrows. The discovery context and the morphology of the rod-shaped specimen are similar to those of ivory points from the Yana sites, whereas the slotted one resembles those from Zhokhovo and other Northeast Asian sites of the same age. Radiocarbon analysis of the points supports these findings. The following conclusions are reached: the rod-shaped point dates to MIS 3, and the slotted one, to MIS 2; such points evidence an elaborate technology of ivory processing during the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene in the high latitudes of Northeast Asia and an adaptation to the scarcity of lithic raw material in the region.

Publisher

Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography SB RAS

Reference46 articles.

1. Albrecht G. 1977 Testing of materials as used for bone points in the Upper Paleolithic. In Méthodologie appliquée à l’industrie de l’os préhistorique. Paris: CNRS, pp. 122–199.

2. Astakhov S.N. 1999 Paleolit Yeniseya. Paleoliticheskiye stoyanki Afontovoy Gory v g. Krasnoyarske. St. Petersburg.: Yevrop. Dom.

3. Augustin F.J., Matzke A.T., Csiki-Sava Z., Pfretzschner H.-U. 2019 Bioerosion on vertebrate remains from the Upper Cretaceous of the Haţeg Basin, Romania and its taphonomic implications. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, vol. 534 (109318).

4. Bader O.N. 1998 Sungir. Paleoliticheskiye pogrebeniya. In Pozdnepaleoliticheskoye poseleniye Sungir (pogrebeniya i okruzhayushchaya sreda). Moscow: Nauch. mir, pp. 5–164.

5. Basilyan A.E., Anisimov M.A., Nikolskiy P.A., Pitulko V.V. 2011 Woolly mammoth mass accumulation next to the Palaeolithic Yana RHS site, Arctic Siberia: Its geology, age, and relation to past human activity. Journal of Archaeological Science, vol. 38: 2461–2474.