TRANSITION FROM THE MIDDLE TO THE UPPER PALAEOLITHIC: NEW DATA ON THE UTILIZATION OF BONE RAW MATERIALS FROM THE MATERIALS OF THE CAVES ORTWALE KLDE AND BONDI (SOUTH CAUCASUS, GEORGIA)
Keywords:
archaeology, transition from Middle to Upper Paleolithic, South Caucasus, processed bone, primary cleavage technologyAbstract
A new study of the Otvalė-Klde and Bondi caves, located about 2 km apart in the Chiatura region of Imereti in Western Georgia, led to important conclusions highlighting this Paleolithic region from the Northern and Southern Caucasus. The life support system, the hunting strategy of the Middle Paleolithic Neanderthals, as well as the cutting, transportation and consumption of animals proved to be quite similar to those practiced by modern people in the Upper Paleolithic. In this work, traces of anthropogenic impact on bone remains from Orvale Klede and Bondi caves were determined by experimental traceological methods. The process of primary splitting of the bone was reconstructed in detail, obtaining the primary billet in a comparative plan by layers and sites, taking into account the results of studying the gun composition. It is concluded that some part of the billets from the long tubular bones of ungulate animals could be the result of additional deliberate strokes on the cracks and impacts along the butt end of the epiphysis of the bone along the axis of the object. The question is raised about additional food sources, other than eating bone marrow, and their role in the emergence of the technique of longitudinal cleavage in bone industries.
On the example of materials of the Middle Paleolithic and Upper Paleolithic layers of the Otvalė Klde cave, the unified strategy of utilization of bone raw materials is closely connected with the peculiarities of the life and economy of the ancient economy. Accordingly, we have received another confirmation of a single life support system for the Middle Paleolithic Neanderthals and modern people in the early Upper Paleolithic of Western Georgia.
References
Адлер Д., Бар-Оз, Г., Векуа А., Тушабрамишвили Н. Охотники палеолита // Природа Кавказа. 2004. № 2 (7). С. 52–55.
Верещагин Н.К. Записки палеонтолога. Л.: Наука, 1981. 166 с.
Йешурун Р., Монсель М.-Э., Плёрдо Д., Пинхаси Р., Тушабрамишвили Н., Агапишвили Т., Лордкипанидзе Д. Зооархеологические и тафономические данные о средне- и верхнепалеолитических комплексах пещеры Бонди (Республика Грузия) // Археология, этнография и антропология Евразии. 2004. № 3 (59). С. 2–12.
Коробкова Г.Ф., Шаровская Т.А. Костяные орудия каменного века (диагностика следов изнашивания по археологическим и экспериментальным данным) // Археологические вести / Гл. ред. Е. Н. Носов. Вып. 8. СПб.: Дмитрий Буланин, 2001. С. 88–98.
Коробкова Г.Ф., Щелинский В.Е. Методика микро- макроанализа древних орудий труда. Ч. 1 / Археологические изыскания; 36 СПб.: ИИМК РАН, 1996. 80 с.
Семёнов С.А. Первобытная техника. Опыт изучения древнейших орудий и изделий по следам работы / МИА. № 54. М.; Л., 1957. 240 с.
Семёнов С.А., Коробкова Г.В. Технология древнейших производств. Л.: Наука, 1983. 256 с.
Филиппов А. К. Проблемы технического формообразования орудий труда в палеолите / Ред. А. Н. Рогачев. Технология производств в эпоху палеолита. Л.: Наука, 1983. С. 9–71.
Хлопачёв Г.А., Гиря Е.Ю. Секреты древних косторезов Восточной Европы и Сибири: приёмы обработки бивня мамонта и рога северного оленя в каменном веке (по археологическим и экспериментальным данным). СПб.: Наука, 2010. 144 с.
Adler D.S., Tushabramishvili N. Middle Palaeolithic patterns of settlement and subsistence in the southern Caucasus. In: N.J. Conard, A.Delagnes (eds.) Settlement Dynamics of the Middle Paleolithic and Middle Stone Age. Vol. 3. Tubingen: Kerns Verlag, 2004. P. 91–133.
Adler D.S., Bar-Oz G., Belfer-Cohen А., Bar-Yosef О. Ahead of the Game: Middle and Upper Palaeolithic Hunting Behaviors in the Southern Caucasus. In: Current Anthropology. 2006. Vol. 47(1). P. 89–118.
Adler D. S., Bar-Yosef O., Belfer-Cohen A., Tushabramishvili N., Boaretto E., Mercier N., Valladas H., Rink W.J. Dating the demise: Naendertal extichion and the establishment of modern humans in the southern Caucasus. In: Journal of Human Evolution. 2008. Vol. 55. P. 817–833.
Akhmetgaleeva N.B. The Worked Bone Artifacts from the Siuren I Rock-Shelter (Crimea): the 1990s Excavation. In: Yur. E. Demidenko, M. Otte, P. Noiret (eds.). Siuren I Rock-Shelter from Late Middle Paleolithic and Early Upper Paleolithic to Epi-paleolithic in Crimea. Ètudes et Recherches Archèologiques de I’Universitè de Liège. Liège, 2012. P. 79–90.
Averbouh A. Technologie de la matière osseuse travaillée et implications palethnologiques. L'exemple des chaînes d'exploitation du bois de cervidé chez les Magdaléniens des Pyrénées (Technology of worked osseous materials and palaeo-ethnological implications. The example of schemes of exploitation of cervid antler by the Magdalenians of the Pyrénées, France),Thèse de doctorat, Université de Paris I-Panthéon Sorbonne, under the direction of N. Pigeot. Paris, 2000.500 p. dactyl, 158 fig.
Baryshnikov G., Hoffecker J. F., Burgess R.L. Palaeontology and Zooarchaeology of Mezmaiskaya Cave (Northwestern Caucasus, Russia). In: Journal of Archaeological Science. 1996. Vol. 23. P. 313–335.
Bar-Oz G., Adler D.S., Vekua A., Meshveliani T., Tushabramishvili N., Belfer-Cohen A., Bar-Yosef O. Faunal Exploitation Patterns along the Southern Slopes of the Caucasus during the Late Middle and Early Upper Palaeolithic. In: M. Mondini, S. Miñoz, S. Wickler (eds.). Colonisation, Migration, and Marginal Areas. 9th ICAZ Conference. Durham, 2002. P. 46–54.
Bar-Oz G., Adler D.S., Meshveliani T., Tushabramishvili N., Belfer-Cohen A., Bar-Yosef O. Middle and Upper Palaeolithic foragers of the Southwest Caucasus: new faunal evidence from Western Georgia, Archaeology. In: Ethnology and Anthropology of Eurasia. 2002. Vol. 4(12). P. 45–52.
Bar-Oz G., Adler D.S. Taphonomic History of the Middle and Upper Paleolithic Faunal Assemblage from Ortvale Klde. Ceorgian Republic. In: Journal of Taphonomy. 2005. Vol. 3. P. 185–211.
Baumann M., Maury S. Ideas no Longer written in antler. In: Journal of Archaeological Science. 2013. Vol. 40. P. 601–614.
Behrensmeyer A. K. Taphonomy and ecology information from bone weathering. In: Paleobiology. 1978. Vol. 4. P. 150–162.
Binford L.R. Bones: Ancient men and modern myths. New York: Academic Press, 1981. 320 p.
Clark J.D., Thompson M.W. The Groove and Splinter Technique of Working Antler in Upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic of Europe. In: Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society (London). 1953. Vol. 19. P. 148–160.
Clark J. D. Bone tools of the Earlier Pleistocene. In: Eretz-Israel. Archaeological, Historical and Geographic Studies (Jerusalem). 1977. Vol. 13. P. 23–37.
D´Errico F., Julien M., Liolios D., Vanhaeren M., Baffier D. Many awls in our argument. Bone tool manufacture and use in the Chatelperronian and Aurignacian levels of the Grotte du Renne at Arcy-sur-Cure. In: J. Zilhao, F. D´Errico (eds.). The Chronology of the Aurignacian and of the Transitional Technocomplexes. Dating, Stratigraphies, Cultural Implications. Proceedings of Symposium 6.1 of the XIVth Congress of the
UISPP (University of Liege, Belgium, September 2-8. 2001). Trabalhos de Arqueologia. Vol. 33. Lisboa: Instituto Portugues de Arqueologia, 2003. P. 247–272.
D’Errico F., Henshilwood C., Lawson G., Vanhaeren M., Tillier A., Soressi M., Bresson F., Maureille B., Nowell A., Lakarra J., Backwell L., Mich` ele Julien M. Archaeological Evidence for the Emergence of Language, Symbolism, and Music – An Alternative Multidisciplinary Perspective. In: Journal of World Prehistory. 2003. Vol. 17. No 1. P. 1–70.
Hahn J. Aurignacien, das altere Jungpalaolithikum in Mittel- und Osteuropa. Köln, Wien: Bohlau, 1977. 355 p. (Fundamenta; Reihe A; Bd. 9).
Hoffecker J. F., Cleghorn N. Mousterian Hunting Patterns in the Northwestern Caucasus and the Ecology of the Neanderthals // International Journal of Osteoarchaeology. Fundamenta; Reihe A; Bd. 9. 2000. Vol. 10. Р. 368–378.
Кnecht H. Early Upper Paleolithic approaches to bone and antler projectile technology. In: Peterkin G.L., Bricker H.M., Mellars P. (eds.) Hunting and animalexploitation in the Later Palaeolithic and Mesolithic of Eurasia. APAAA; 4. Washington, D.C., 1993. P. 33–47.
Liolios D. Variabilité et caractéristiques du travail des matières osseuses au début de l’Aurignacien: approche technologique et économique. PhD dissertation. Université de Paris X, 1999.
Liolios D. L’apparition de l’industrie osseuse au début du Paléolithique supérieur: un transfert des techniques de travail du végétal sur les matières osseuses. In: R. Desbrosse, A. Thévenin (eds.). Préhistoire de l’Europe des origines à l’Age du Bronze. Actes du 125e Congrès national des Sociétés historiques et scientifiques. Lille, 2000, Éditions du CTHS, 2002. P. 219–226.
Olsen S.L. A study of bone artifacts from Grasshopper Pueblo, AZ P: 14: 1. In: The Kiva. 1979. Vol. 44. No 4. P. 341–373.
Olsen S.L. Magdalenian reindeer Exploitation at the Grotte des Eyzies, Southwest France. In: ArchaeZoologia. 1987. Vol. I (1). P. 171–182.
Olsen S.L., Shipma P. Surface Modification on Bone: Trampling versus Butchery. In: Journal of Archaeological Science. 1988. Vol. 15. P. 535–553.
Peyrony D. Les industries "aurignaciennes" dans le bassin de la Vezere. In: BSPF. Vol. 30. 1933. P. 543–559.
Spiess A. E. Reindeer and Caribou Hunters, an Archaeological Study. London: Academic Press, 1979. 312 p.
Tartar E. L'analyse techno-fonctionnelle de l'industrie en matières osseuses dite peu élaboré. L'exemple des pièces intermédiaires en os de l'Aurignacien ancien de la grotte des Hyènes (Brassempouy, Landes). In: Préhistoire Anthropologie Méditerranéennes. 2003. Vol. 12. P. 139–146.
Tartar E. De l'os a l'outil: caracterisation technique, economique et sociale de l'utilisation de l'os a l'aurignacien ancien. Etude de trois sites: l'Abri Castanet (secteurs nord et sud), Brassempouy (Grotte des Hyenes et Abri Dubalen) et Gatzarria (Ph.D. Dissertation). Paris I Pantheon-Sorbonne University, 2009. 298+263 p.
Tartar E. The recognition of a new type of bone tools in Early Aurignacian assemblages: implications for understanding the appearance of osseous technology in Europe. In: Journal of Archaeological Science. 2012. Vol. 39. P. 2348–2360.
Tartar E. Aurignacian osseous technology in Western Europe. Aurignacian Genius: Art, Technology and Society of the First Modern Humans in Europe. In: R. White, R. Bourrillon, F. Bon (eds.). Proceedings of the International Symposium, April 08-10 2013. Palethnology; 7. New York: New York University, 2015. P. 34–55.
Tejero J.-M. La explotación de las materias óseas en el Auriñaciense. Caracterización tecnoeconómica de las producciones del Paleolítico superior inicial en la Península Ibérica. BAR International Series; 2469. Oxford: Archaeopress, 2013.
Tejero J.-M. Towards complexity in osseous raw material exploitation by the first anatomical modern humans in Europe: aurignacian deer antler work. In: Journal of Anthropological Archaeoljgy. 2014. Vol. 36. P. 72–92.
Tejero J.-M., Grimaldi S. Assessing bone and antler exploitation at Riparo Mochi (Balzi Rossi, Italy):
implications for the characterization of the Aurignacian in South-western Europe. In: Journal of Archaeological Science. 2015. Vol. 61. P. 59–77.
Tejero J.-M. La explotacion de las materias duras animales en el Paleolítico superior inicial. Una aproximacion tecno-economica a las producciones oseas aurignacienses en la Península Iberica (Ph. D. Dissertation). UNED University. Madrid, 2010.
Tushabramishvili D. Paleolithic of Georgia. In: Newsletter of the Georgian State Museum. 1984. Vol. 37 B. P. 5–27.
Tushabramisbvili N., Lordkipanidze D., Vekua A., Tvalcherlidze M., Muskhelishvili A., Adler D.S. The palaeolithic rockshel ter of Ortvale Klde, Imereti region, the Georgian Republic. In: Prehistoire Atropeenne. 1999. Vol 15. Р. 65–77.
Tushabramishvili N., Daniel S. Adler, Bar-Yosef O., Belfer-Cohen A. Current Middle & Upper Palaeolithic Research in the Southern Caucasus. In: Antiquity. 2003. Vol. 7 (295). P. 927–928.
Tushabramishvili N., Meladze T., Sukhishvili L. Georgia on the Crossroad. Cultural Exchanges and Evidences for Different Distance Contacts in Middle and Upper Paleolithic. In: Modes de contacts et de déplacements auPaléolithique eurasiatique. UISPP. Liège, 2012. Р. 3–28.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2017 N. Tushabramishvili, N. B. Akhmetgaleeva
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
