PRODUCTION OF BLANKS FOR TOOLS MADE OF BONE AND ANTLER IN THE MESOLITHIC OF THE VOLGA-OKA INTERFLUVE

Abstract

Results of use-wear and experimental studies of Mesolithic materials from Eastern Europe indicate various methods of blanks production depending on peculiarities of osseous raw material and type of the tool produced. Employment of these methods and different ways of secondary treatment made possible to make all tools needed for hunting, fishing and household activities. It can be traced clearly that preference was made for use of specific bones of certain mammalian species. Bones and antler of elk – the main game animal in the Volga-Oka interfluve during the Mesolithic were mostly used. Main traditions and methods of bone/antler processing were formed in the region under study, like in the most part of Eastern Europe, already during the Early Mesolithic. They were developed later, new raw materials and approaches to treatment of bone and antler emerged, but the basic features of the bone industry were preserved. These features can be traced in full not only when analyzing finished bone and antler tools, but of their preforms and processing methods as well.