PRELIMINARY RESULTS OF THE STUDY OF STONE INVENTORY OF THE GORA MAYAK SITE IN THE MIDDLE VOLGA REGION
Keywords:
archaeology, Middle Volga region, terminal Palaeolothic, stone inventory, use-wear analysis, tools, arrowheads, insertsAbstract
The paper presents the results of a study of fl int artifacts found during excavations of a multicultural archaeological site Gora Mayak which is situated on the Bolshoi Cheremshan River in Samara trans-Volga area. About 2400 fl int items were studied, which were discovered in the form of a large cluster in excavation site 6 (2002-04). Blade industry of the site inhabitants was based on suffi ciently high-quality raw materials of small sizes, which were often split by pressure technique. Use-wear analysis showed that all morphologically expressed tools were used in various labor operations, as well as most of the blades and microblades and almost half of the fl akes and chips of the nucleus. Most of the diagnosed arrowheads and knives refer to slot composite tools. Narrow blades and microblades (whole and fragments) were used as the arrowhead inserts. Some arrowheads were formed from the fl int blades by retouching its tips and bases. A single, but expressive fi nd of small trapezium with straight retouched sides has direct analogy in the sets of arrowhead inserts, which are considered characteristic for some sites of the terminal Palaeolithic period investigated in the Chuvash Volga region (Sholma 1 site) and North-East Kazakhstan (Shiderty 3), as well as for the Oust-Kamskaya (the Kama Mouth) culture (Sukeevskiy Vzvoz site). Based on the technological, functional and typological features of the inventory, the authors consider it possible to attribute the function time of the Gora Mayak site to the terminal Palaeolithic.
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Copyright (c) 2020 M.Sh. Galimova, D.A. Stashenkov, A.F. Kochkina
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