Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

The Late Gravettian Site of Kostënki 21 Layer III, Russia: a Chronocultural Reassessment Based on a New Interpretation of the Significance of Intra-site Spatial Patterning

  • Published:
Journal of Paleolithic Archaeology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The site of Kostënki 21 (also known as Gmelin or Gmelinskaia) is located on the very edge of the Don River at Kostënki (Voronezh Oblast, Russia). The main archaeological horizon, layer III, is dated to c. 23,000–21,000 14C BP (c. 27,500–24,500 cal BP) and contained six concentrations of archaeological material, mostly interpreted as the remains of dwelling structures. A substantial Gravettian lithic assemblage was found. The site has traditionally been seen as without parallels within the Gravettian chronocultural framework of Eastern Europe. It has long been noted that clear differences in the lithic typology and faunal assemblages of the six concentrations can be used to separate them into two groups, but this has previously been attributed to differences in the activities carried out in the two areas. In this paper, we argue that the two parts of the site were created at different times and that one part of the site can potentially be grouped with several other sites in Russia and Ukraine on lithic techno-typological grounds. The degree of patination of the flint artefacts found at the site provides support for our interpretation.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12
Fig. 13
Fig. 14
Fig. 15
Fig. 16
Fig. 17
Fig. 18

Similar content being viewed by others

Data Availability

The data on lithic artefacts collected and used for this study (SI 1 and 2), along with metadata (SI 3) and R code used for analyses (SI 4), is available with this paper as Supplementary Information and at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.6840245.

References

  • Abramova, Z. A. (1995). L’art paléolithique d’Europe orientale et de Sibérie. Grenoble: Jérôme Millon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Abramova, Z. A., Grigorieva, G. V., & Zaitseva, G. I. (2001). The age of Upper Paleolithic sites in the Middle Dnieper River basin of Eastern Europe. Radiocarbon, 42, 1077–1084.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Agam, A., & Barkai, R. (2016). Not the brain alone: the nutritional potential of elephant heads in Paleolithic sites. Quaternary International, 406(B), 218–226.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Agam, A., & Barkai, R. (2018). Elephant and mammoth hunting during the Paleolithic: a review of the relevant archaeological, ethnographic and ethno-historical records. Quaternary, 1, 3. https://doi.org/10.3390/quat1010003.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Amirkhanov, K. A. (2000). Zaraiskaia stoianka. Moscow: Nauchnyi mir.

    Google Scholar 

  • Amirkhanov, K. A. (Ed.). (2009). Issledovaniia paleolita v Zaraiske 1999–2005. Moscow: Paleograf.

    Google Scholar 

  • Anikovich, M. V., Popov, V. V., & Platonova, N. I. (2008). Kostënkovsko-Borshchëvskii raion kak chast’ Dnepro-Donskoi istoriko-kul’turnoi oblasti okhotnikov na mamontov. In M. V. Anikovich, V. V. Popov, & N. I. Platonova (Eds.), Paleolit Kostënkovsko-Borshchëvskogo raiona v kontekste verkhnego paleolita Evropy (pp. 173–206). Saint Petersburg: Nestor-Istoriia.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arslanov, K. A., & Svezhentsev, Y. S. (1993). An improved method for radiocarbon dating fossil bones. Radiocarbon, 35(3), 387–391.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bargalló, A., Gabucio, M. J., & Rivals, F. (2016). Puzzling out a palimpsest: Testing an interdisciplinary study in level O of Abric Romaní. Quaternary International, 417, 51–65.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baryshnikov, G. F. (2015). Late Pleistocene Canidae remains from Geographical Society Cave in the Russian Far East. Russian Journal of Theriology, 14(1), 65–83.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beliaeva, V. I. (2002). Kremnëvaia industriia Pushkarei 1. In N. D. Praslov (Ed.), Verkhnii paleolit – verkhnii pleistotsen: dinamika prirodnykh sobytii i periodizatsiia arkheologicheskikh kul’tur. Materialy mezhdunarodnoi konferentsii, posviashchennoi 90-letiiu so dnia rozhdeniia A. N. Rogachëva (pp. 132–137). Nauka: Saint Petersburg.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beliaeva, V. I. (2008). Ostriia krupnykh form Pushkarei I. In G. A. Khlopachëv (Ed.), Khronologiia, periodizatsiia i krosskul’turnye sviazy v kamennom veke (Zamiatninskii sbornik, Vyp. 1) (pp. 74–82). Saint Petersburg: Nauka.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bessudnov, A. A. (2015a). Kostenki 21, layer III: a “Western” variant of the eastern European Gravettian? Proceedings of the European Society for the study of Human Evolution, 4, 50.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bessudnov, A. A. (2015b). Issledovanie III kul’turnogo sloia Kostënok 21 v khode spasatel’nykh rabot 2013–2014 gg. In V. E. Rodinkova (Ed.), Novye materialy i metody arkheologicheskogo issledovaniia: Materialy III Mezhdunarodnoi konferentsii molodykh uchënykh (pp. 10–12). Moscow: IA RAN.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bessudnov, A. A. (2016). Kostenki 21 (Gmelinskaya site). In N. S. Sapelkin (Ed.), Kostenki-Borshchevo archaeological area: guidebook (pp. 20–23). Voronezh: Tsentral’no-Chernozëmnoe knizhnoe izdatel’stvo.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bessudnov, A. A. (2017). Arkheologicheskie raboty na paleoliticheskoi stoianke Kostënki 21 (Gmelinskaia). In N. E. Chalykh (Ed.), Arkheologicheskie issledovaniia v Tsentral’nom Chernozem’e 2016 (pp. 44–45). Voronezh: Novyi vzgliad.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bessudnov, A. A. (2018). Predvaritel’nye rezul’taty spasatel’nykh arkheologicheskikh rabot na stoianke Kostënki 21 (Gmelinskaia) v 2013–2016 gg. Zapiski IIMK RAN, 17, 62–73.

    Google Scholar 

  • Binford, L. R. (1981). Bones. Ancient men and modern myths. New York: Academic.

    Google Scholar 

  • Binford, L. R. (1993). Bones for stones. Considerations of analogues for features found on the central Russian plain. In O. Soffer & N. D. Praslov (Eds.), From Kostenki to Clovis: Upper Paleolithic — Paleo-Indian adaptations (pp. 101–124). New York: Plenum.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Boriskovskii, P. I. (1950). Nekotorye mnogosloinye paleoliticheskie pamiatniki basseina r. Desny. Kratkie soobshcheniia instituta istorii material’noi kul’tury, 31, 34–39.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boriskovskii, P. I. (1953). Paleolit Ukraini. Materialy i issledovaniia po arkheologii SSSR, 40.

  • Boriskovskii, P. I. (1961). Kremnëvye masterskie v okrestnostiakh Valuek na reke Oskol. Kratkie soobshcheniia instituta arkheologii, 82, 104–111.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boudadi-Maligne, M., (2010). Les Canis pléistocènes du sud de la France : approche biosystématique, evolutive et biochronologique. Doctoral thesis, Université Bordeaux 1, Bordeaux.

  • Bronk Ramsey, C. (2009). Bayesian analysis of radiocarbon dates. Radiocarbon, 51(1), 337–360.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bulochnikova, E. V. (1998). Vchera i segodnia poniatiia "vostochnyi gravet’en". In K. A. Amirkhanov (Ed.), Vostochnoi gravett (pp. 67–72). Moscow: Nauchnyi mir.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bulochnikova, E. V., & Grigor’ev, G. P. (2005). O nakonechnikakh paleoliticheskikh i mezoliticheskikh. In M. G. Zhilin (Ed.), Kamennyi vek lesnoi zony Vostochnoi Evropy I Zaural’ia (pp. 61–76). Moscow: Academia/IA RAN.

    Google Scholar 

  • Camarós, E., Cueto, M., Teira, L. C., Tapia, J., Cubas, M., Blasco, R., Rosell, J., & Rivals, F. (2013). Large carnivores as taphonomic agents of space modification: an experimental approach with archaeological implications. Journal of Archaeological Science, 40(2), 1361–1368.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Caux, S., Galland, A., Queffelec, A., & Bordes, J.-G. (2018). Aspects and characterization of chert alteration in an archaeological context: a qualitative to quantitative pilot study. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 20, 210–219.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Childe, V. G. (1950). Cave men’s buildings. Antiquity, 24(93), 4–11.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Damblon, F., Haesaerts, P., & van der Plicht, J. (1996). New datings and considerations on the chronology of Upper Palaeolithic sites in the Great Eurasiatic plain. Préhistoire Européenne, 9, 177–231.

    Google Scholar 

  • de Sonneville Bordes, D. (1969). Pointes à cran (Kerbspitzen) du Magdalénien supérieur du Petersfels. Quartär, 20, 175–188.

    Google Scholar 

  • Demay, L., Péan, S., Belyaeva, V. I., Vasil’ev, P. M., & Patou-Mathis, M. (2016). Zooarchaeological study of an Upper Palaeolithic site with mammoth remains, Pushkari I–excavation VII (Chernigov oblast, Ukraine). Quaternary International, 406, 183–201.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Devièse, T., Comeskey, D., McCullagh, J., Bronk Ramsey, C., & Higham, T. (2018). New protocol for compound specific radiocarbon analysis of archaeological bones. Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry, 32(5), 373–379.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dinnis, R., Bessudnov, A. A., Reynolds, N., Douka, K., Dudin, A. E., Khlopachev, G. A., Sablin, M. V., Sinitsyn, A. A., & Higham, T. F. G. (2018). The age of the ‘Anosovka-Tel’manskaya culture’ and the issue of a Late Streletskian at Kostënki 11, SW Russia. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, 84, 21–40.

  • Djindjian, F. (2013). Les structures d’habitat du Gravettien en Europe. In M. Otte (Ed.), Les Gravettiens (pp. 163–189). Paris: Éditions Errance.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dudin, A. E. (2016). Kostenki 11 (Anosovka 2). In N. S. Sapelkin (Ed.), Kostenki-Borshchevo archaeological area: guidebook (pp. 7–10). Voronezh: Tsentral’no-Chernozëmnoe knizhnoe izdatel’stvo.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dudin, A. E. (2017). Raskopki paleoliticheskoi stoianki Kostënki 11 (Anosovka 2). In N. E. Chalykh (Ed.), Arkheologicheskie issledovaniia v Tsentral’nom Chernozem’e 2016 (pp. 51–53). Voronezh: Novyi vzgliad.

    Google Scholar 

  • Efimenko, P. P. (1958). Kostënki I. Moscow: Izdatel’stvo Akademii Nauk SSSR.

    Google Scholar 

  • Es’kova, D. K. (2015). Tekhnologiia rasshchepleniia kamnia na stoiankakh vostochnogo gravetta Russkoi ravniny. Dissertation avtoreferat, Institut Arkheologii RAN, Moscow.

  • Fernández-Jalvo, Y., & Andrews, P. (2016). Atlas of taphonomic identifications: 1001+ images of fossil and recent mammal bone modification. Dordrecht: Springer.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Fisher, D. C., Shirley, E. A., Whalen, C. D., Calamari, Z. T., Rountrey, A. N., Tikhonov, A. N., Buigues, B., Lacombat, F., Grigoriev, S. E., & Lazarev, P. A. (2014). X-ray computed tomography of two mammoth calf mummies. Journal of Paleontology, 88(4), 664–675.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fladerer, F. A. (2001). Die Faunareste vom jungpaläolithischen Lagerplatz Krems-Wachtberg, Ausgrabung 1930. Jagdwild und Tierkörpernutzung an der Donau vor 27.000 Jahren. In Mitteilungen der Prähistorischen Kommission 39. Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.

    Google Scholar 

  • García Catalán, S., Vaquero Rodríguez, M., Pérez Goñi, I., Menéndez Iglesias, B., Peña García, L., Blasco López, R., Mancha Flores, E., Moreno García, D., & Muñoz Encinar, L. (2009). Palimpsestos y cambios culturales en el límite Pleistoceno-Holoceno: el conjunto lítico de Picamoixons (Alt Camp, Tarragona). Trabajos de Prehistoria, 66(2), 61–76.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gaudzinski-Windheuser, S., Jöris, O., Sensburg, M., Street, M., & Turner, E. (Eds.). (2011). Site-internal spatial organization of hunter-gatherer societies: case studies from the European Palaeolithic and Mesolithic. Mainz: Verlag des RGZM.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gavrilov, K. N. (2008). Verkhnepaleoliticheskaia stoianka Khotylëvo 2. Moscow: Taus.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gavrilov, K. N. (2016). Verkhnii paleolit basseina Desny: preemstvennost’ i variabel’nost’ v razvitii material’noi kul’tury. Moscow: Nestor-Istoriia.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gavrilov, K. N., Voskresenskaya, E. V., Maschenko, E. N., & Douka, K. (2015). East Gravettian Khotylevo 2 site: stratigraphy, archeozoology, and spatial organization of the cultural layer at the newly explored area of the site. Quaternary International, 359–360, 335–346.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Germonpré, M., & Sablin, M. V. (2017). Humans and mammals in the Upper Palaeolithic of Russia. In U. Albarella, M. Rizzetto, H. Russ, K. Vickers, & S. Viner-Daniels (Eds.), Oxford handbook of zooarchaeology (pp. 25–38). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Germonpré, M., Sablin, M., Khlopachev, G. A., & Grigoreiva, G. V. (2008). Possible evidence of mammoth hunting during the Epigravettian at Yudinovo, Russian Plain. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 27, 475–492.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Germonpré, M., Sablin, M. V., Stevens, R. E., Hedges, R. E. M., Hofreiter, M., Stiller, M., & Després, V. R. (2009). Fossil dogs and wolves from Palaeolithic sites in Belgium, the Ukraine and Russia: osteometry, ancient DNA and stable isotopes. Journal of Archaeological Science, 36, 473–490.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Germonpré, M., Udrescu, M., & Fiers, E. (2014). Possible evidence of mammoth hunting at the Neanderthal site of Spy (Belgium). Quaternary International, 337, 28–42.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Germonpré, M., Lázničková-Galetová, M., Losey, R. J., Räikkönen, J., & Sablin, M. V. (2015). Large canids at the Gravettian Předmostí site, the Czech Republic: the mandible. Quaternary International, 359–360, 261–279.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Germonpré, M., Fedorov, S., Danilov, M., Galeta, P., Jimenez, E.-L., Sablin, M. V., & Losey, R. J. (2017a). Palaeolithic and prehistoric dogs and Pleistocene wolves from Yakutia: identification of isolated skulls. Journal of Archaeological Science, 78, 1–19.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Germonpré, M., Lázničková-Galetová, M., Jimenez, E.-L., Losey, R., Sablin, M., Bocherens, H., & Van den Broeck, M. (2017b). Consumption of canid meat at the Gravettian Předmostí site, Czech Republic. Fossil Imprint, 73(3–4), 360–382.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Giria, Y., & Bradley, B. (1998). Blade Technology at Kostenki 1/1, Avdeevo and Zaraysk. In K. A. Amirkhanov (Ed.), Vostochnyi gravett (pp. 191–213). Moscow: Nauchnyi mir.

    Google Scholar 

  • Glauberman, P. J., & Thorson, R. M. (2012). Flint patina as an aspect of “flaked stone taphonomy”: a case study from the loess terrain of the Netherlands and Belgium. Journal of Taphonomy, 10, 21–43.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goren-Inbar, N., Lister, A., Werker, E., & Chech, M. (1994). A butchered elephant skull and associated artifacts from the Acheulian site of Gesher Benot Ya’aqov, Israel. Paléorient, 1994, 99–112.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goutas, N. (2013). De Brassempouy À Kostienki : l’exploitation technique des ressources animales dans l’Europe gravettienne. In M. Otte (Ed.), Les Gravettiens (pp. 105–160). Paris: Éditions Errance.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goutas, N. (2015). Données inédites sur le Gravettien oriental. Apport de la technologie osseuse à la caractérisation des occupations de Kostienki 4 (Alexandrovska, région de Voronej, Russie). Bulletin de la Société préhistorique française, 112(4), 647–692.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goutas, N., & Lacarrière, J. (2018). Quelle place pour le Mammouth dans l’économie des Gravettiens d’Arcy-sur-Cure (Yonne, France) il y a environ 27 000 ans cal BP ? In S. Costamagno, C. Dupond, O. Dutour, L. Gourichon, & D. Vialon (Eds.), Animal symbolisé – Animal exploité. Du Paléolithique à la Protohistoire (pp. 28–67). Paris: Éditions du CTHS (édition électronique).

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Grigor’ev, G. P. (1993). The Kostenki–Avdeevo archaeological culture and the Willendorf–Pavlov–Kostenki–Avdeevo cultural unity. In O. Soffer & N. D. Praslov (Eds.), From Kostenki to Clovis: Upper Paleolithic — Paleo-Indian adaptations (pp. 51–65). New York: Plenum.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Grigoriev, S. E., Fisher, D. C., Obadă, T., Shirley, E. A., Rountrey, A. N., Savvinov, G. N., Garmaeva, D. K., Novgorodov, G. P., Cheprasov, M. Y., Vasilev, S. E., Goncharov, A. E., Masharskiy, A., Egorova, V. E., Petrova, P. P., Egorova, E. E., Akhremenko, Y. A., van der Plicht, J., Galanin, A. A., Fedorov, S. E., Ivanov, E. V., & Tikhonov, A. N. (2017). A woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) carcass from Maly Lyakhovsky Island (New Siberian Islands, Russian Federation). Quaternary International, 445, 89–103.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gvozdover, M. (1995). Art of the mammoth hunters: the finds from Avdeevo. Oxford: Oxbow Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gvozdover, M. V. (1998). Kremnëvyi inventar’ Avdeevskoi verkhnepaleoliticheskoi stoianki. In K. A. Amirkhanov (Ed.), Vostochnoi gravett (pp. 234–278). Moscow: Nauchnyi mir.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haynes, G. (1991). Mammoths, mastodonts, and elephants. Biology, behavior, and the fossil record. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haynes, G. (2017). Finding meaning in mammoth age profiles. Quaternary International, 443(A), 65–78.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Higham, T. F. G. (2011). European Middle and Upper Palaeolithic radiocarbon dates are often older than they look: problems with previous dates and some remedies. Antiquity, 85, 235–249.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hockett, B. S., & Bicho, N. F. (2000). The rabbits of Picareiro cave: small mammal hunting during the Late Upper Palaeolithic in the Portuguese Estremadura. Journal of Archaeological Science, 27(8), 715–723.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hoffecker, J. F., Holliday, V. T., Lisitsyn, S. N., Platonova, N. I., (2017). The geochronology of the earliest Upper Paleolithic in Eastern Europe. Unpublished report to the L. S. B. Leakey Foundation.

  • Holliday, V., Hoffecker, J., Goldberg, P., Macphail, R., Forman, S., Anikovich, M., & Sinitsyn, A. (2007). Geoarchaeology of the Kostёnki–Borshchëvo sites, Don River Valley, Russia. Geoarchaeology, 22(2), 181–228.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hromadova, B., (2012). Ispol’zovanie syr’ia iz kosti, bivnia i roga na stoiankakh kostënkovsko-avdeevskoi kul’tury (vostochnoi gravett). Dissertation avtoreferat, MGU, Moscow.

  • Hughes, P. D., & Gibbard, P. L. (2015). A stratigraphical basis for the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Quaternary International, 383, 174–185.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hurst, V. J., & Kelly, A. R. (1961). Patination of cultural flints. Science, 134(3474), 251–256.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Iakovleva, L. (2016). La préhistoire en Union Soviétique des années 1950 aux années 1960. In G. Delley, M. Díaz-Andreu, F. Djindjian, V. M. Fernández, A. Guidi, & M.-A. Kaeser (Eds.), History of archaeology: international perspectives. Proceedings of the XVII UISPP World Congress (1–7 September 2014, Burgos, Spain) (Vol. 11, pp. 145–159). Oxford: Archaeopress.

    Google Scholar 

  • Inizan, M.-L., Reduron Ballinger, M., Roche, H., Tixier, J., & Féblot Augustins, J. (1999). Technology and terminology of knapped stone. Nanterre: CREP.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ivanova, M. A., (1985). Struktura Gmelinskogo paleoliticheskogo poselniia (po rezul’tatam planigraficheskogo i tipologicheskogo analiza kremnëvogo inventaria). Dissertation avtoreferat, LOIA RAN, Leningrad.

  • Ivanova, M. A., Kuz’mina, I. E., & Praslov, N. D. (1987). Fauna mlekopitaiushchikh Gmelinskoi pozdnepaleoliticheskoi stoianki na Donu. Trudy Zoologicheskogo Instituta AN SSSR, 168, 66–86.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kornietz, N. L. (1962). Pro prichini vimirannya mamonta na teritorii Ukraini. In I. G. Pidoplichko (Ed.), Vikopni fauni Ukraini i sumizhnih teritorii (pp. 93–169). Kiev: AN USSR.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kovnurko, G. M. (1971). Sostav, proiskhozhdenie i voprosy patinizatsii konkretsii kremnia. Dissertation avtoreferat (geological and mineralogical sciences), LGU, Leningrad.

  • Kozłowski, J. K. (1986). The Gravettian in Central and Eastern Europe. Advances in World Archaeology, 5, 131–200.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kozlowski, J. K. (1998). La géochronologie de l’horizon à pointes à cran en Europe Centrale. In K. A. Amirkhanov (Ed.), Vostochnyi gravett (pp. 81–89). Moscow: Nauchnyi mir.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kulakovska, L. V., Usik, V. I., & Haesaerts, P. (2012). Doroshivtsi III – gravettskaia stoianka v doline Dnestra (Ukraina). Stratum Plus, 2012(1), 131–150.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kulakovska, L., Usik, V., Haesaerts, P., Ridush, B., Uthmeier, T., & Hauck, T. C. (2015). Upper Paleolithic of Middle Dniester: Doroshivtsi III site. Quaternary International, 359, 347–361.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kurtness, K. (2014). Les saisons de la chasse : un homme et une femme ilnu de Mashteuiatsh (Québec, Canada) témoignent de leurs pratiques traditionnelles. Chicoutimi: Université du Québec à Chicoutimi.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lisitsyn, S. N. (2015). The late Gravettian of Borshevo 5 in the context of the Kostenki-Borshevo sites (Don basin, Russia). Quaternary International, 359–60, 372–383.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lloveras, L., Maroto, J., Soler, J., Thomas, R., Moreno-García, M., Nadal, J., & Soler, N. (2016). The role of small prey in human subsistence strategies from Early Upper Palaeolithic sites in Iberia: he rabbits from the Evolved Aurignacian level of Arbreda Cave. Journal of Quaternary Science, 31, 458–471.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lupo, K. D., & Schmitt, D. N. (2002). Upper Paleolithic net-hunting, small prey exploitation, and women’s work effort: a view from the ethnographic and ethnoarchaeological record of the Congo Basin. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, 9, 147–179.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lyman, R. L. (1994). Vertebrate taphonomy (Cambridge manuals in archaeology). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Maschenko, E. N. (2002). Individual development, biology and evolution of the woolly mammoth. Cranium, 19, 4–120.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moss, C. J. (1988). Elephant memories: thirteen years in the life of an elephant family. New York: William Morrow & Co.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nelson, R. K. (1983). Make prayers to the raven. A Koyukon view of the Northern Forest. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nikolskiy, P., & Pitulko, V. (2013). Evidence from the Yana Palaeolithic site, Arctic Siberia, yields clues to the riddle of mammoth hunting. Journal of Archaeological Science, 40(12), 4189–4197.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nuzhnyi, D., Iu, Praslov, N. D., & Sablin, M. V. (2014). Pervyi sluchai podtverzhdeniia uspeshnoi okhoty na mamonta v Evrope (stoianka Kostënki 1, Rossiia). In G. A. Khlopachëv (Ed.), Svod arkheologicheskikh istochnikov Kunstkamery. Vyp. 4: Istoriia arkheologicheskogo sobraniia MAE. Verkhnii paleolit. Saint Petersburg: MAE RAN.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nuzhnyy, D. Y. (2008). Rozvytok mikrolitychnoyi tekhniky v kam’yanomu vitsi: udoskonalennya zbroyi pervisnykh myslyvtziv. Kiev: KNT.

    Google Scholar 

  • Olivier, R. C. D. (1982). Ecology and behavior of living elephants: bases for assumptions concerning the extinct woolly mammoths. In D. M. Hopkins, J. V. Matthews, C. E. Schweger, & S. B. Young (Eds.), Paleoecology of Beringia (pp. 291–305). New York: Academic.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Otte, M., (1981). Le Gravettien en Europe Centrale. De Tempel (Dissertationes Archaeologicae Gandenses, vol. XX), Bruges.

  • Pietsch, D. (2013). Krotovinas—soil archives of steppe landscape history. Catena, 104, 257–264.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Popov, V. V., (1989). Razvitie pozdnepaleoliticheskoi kul’tury Vostochnoi Evropy po materialam mnogosloinoi stoianki Kostënki 11. Dissertation avtoreferat, LGU, Leningrad.

  • Popov, V. V., & Pustovalov, A. I. (2004). Poselenie 2-go kul’turnogo sloia stoianki Kostënki 11 (Anosovka 2). In A. T. Siniuk (Ed.), Arkheologicheskie pamiatniki basseina Dona: Mezhvuzovskii sbornik nauchnykh trudov (pp. 3–8). Voronezh: VGPU.

    Google Scholar 

  • Praslov, N. D. (1985). Gravirovannye izobrazheniia zhivotnykh v Gmelinskoi pozdnepaleoliticheskoi stoianke (Kostёnki 21). In N. K. Vereshchagin & I. E. Kuz’mina (Eds.), Mlekopitaiushchiye Severnoi Evrazii v chetvertichnom periode. Trudy Zoologicheskogo instituta 131 (pp. 114–118). Leningrad: Zoologicheskii institut AN SSSR.

    Google Scholar 

  • Praslov, N. D. (2000). Outils de chasse du Paléolithique de Kostenki. Anthropologie et Préhistoire, 111, 37.

    Google Scholar 

  • Praslov, N. D., & Ivanova, M. A. (1982). Kostënki 21 (Gmelinskaia stoianka). In N. D. Praslov & A. N. Rogachëv (Eds.), Paleolit Kostënkovsko-Borshchëvskogo raiona na Donu. 1879–1979: Nekotorye itogi polevykh issledovanii (pp. 198–210). Leningrad: Nauka.

    Google Scholar 

  • Praslov, N. D., & Rogachëv, A. N. (Eds.). (1982). Paleolit Kostënkovsko-Borshchëvskogo raiona na Donu. 1879–1979: Nekotorye itogi polevykh issledovanii. Leningrad: Nauka.

    Google Scholar 

  • Praslov, N. D., & Soulerjytsky, L. D. (1997). De nouvelles données chronologiques pour le paléolithique de Kostienki-sur-Don. Préhistoire Européenne, 11, 133–143.

    Google Scholar 

  • Praslov, N. D., Levkovskaia, G. M., & Kul’kova, T. F. (1977). Usloviia zaleganiia kul'turnogo sloia Gmelinskoi pozdnepaleoliticheskoi stoianki v Kostёnkakh. In I. K. Ivanova & N. D. Praslov (Eds.), Paleoekologiia drevnego cheloveka. K X kongressu INQUA (Velikobritaniia, 1977) (pp. 84–95). Nauka: Moskva.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pryor, A. J. E., Beresford-Jones, D. G., Dudin, A. E., Ikonnikova, E. M., Hoffecker, J. and Gamble, C. S. (in press). Chronology and function of a new circular mammoth bone structure from Kostenki 11. Antiquity.

  • Rasmussen, S. O., Bigler, M., Blockley, S. P., Blunier, T., Buchardt, S. L., Clausen, H. B., Cvijanovic, I., Dahl-Jensen, D., Johnsen, S. J., Fischer, H., Gkinis, V., Guillevic, M., Hoek, W. Z., Lowe, J. J., Pedro, J. B., Popp, T., Seierstad, I. K., Steffensen, J. P., Svensson, A. M., Vallelonga, P., Vinther, B. M., Walker, M. J. C., Wheatley, J. J., & Winstrup, M. (2014). A stratigraphic framework for abrupt climatic changes during the Last Glacial period based on three synchronized Greenland ice-core records: refining and extending the INTIMATE event stratigraphy. Quaternary Science Reviews, 106, 14–28.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reimer, P. J., Bard, E., Bayliss, A., Beck, J. W., Blackwell, P. G., Bronk Ramsey, C., Buck, C. E., Cheng, H., Edwards, R. L., Friedrich, M., Grootes, P. M., Guilderson, T. P., Haflidason, H., Hajdas, I., Hatté, C., Heaton, T. J., Hoffmann, D. L., Hogg, A. G., Hughen, K. A., Kaiser, K. F., Kromer, B., Manning, S. W., Niu, M., Reimer, R. W., Richards, D. A., Scott, E. M., Southon, J. R., Staff, R. A., Turney, C. S. M., & van der Plicht, J. (2013). IntCal13 and Marine13 radiocarbon age calibration curves 0–50,000 years cal BP. Radiocarbon, 55, 1869–1887.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reshef, H., & Barkai, R. (2015). A taste of an elephant: the probable role of elephant meat in Paleolithic diet preferences. Quaternary International, 379, 28–34.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reynier, M. J. (2000). Thatcham revisited: spatial and stratigraphic analyses of two sub-assemblages from Site III and its implications for Early Mesolithic typochronology in Britain. In R. Young (Ed.), Mesolithic Lifeways: current research from Britain and Ireland (pp. 33–46). Leicester: University of Leicester Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reynolds, N., (2014). The Mid Upper Palaeolithic of European Russia: chronology, culture history and context. A study of five Gravettian backed lithic assemblages. Doctoral thesis, University of Oxford, Oxford.

  • Reynolds, N., Lisitsyn, S. N., Sablin, M. V., Barton, N., & Higham, T. (2015). Chronology of the European Russian Gravettian: new radiocarbon dating results and interpretation. Quartär, 62, 121–132.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reynolds, N., Dinnis, R., Bessudnov, A. A., Devièse, T., & Higham, T. F. G. (2017). The Kostënki 18 child burial and the cultural and funerary landscape of Mid Upper Palaeolithic European Russia. Antiquity, 91(360), 1435–1450.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Riede, F. (2014). Success and failure during the Lateglacial pioneer human re-colonisation of southern Scandinavia. In F. Riede & M. Tallavaara (Eds.), Lateglacial and Postglacial Pioneers in Northern Europe (pp. 33–52). Oxford: Archaeopress. BAR International Series 2599.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roda Gilabert, X., Martínez-Moreno, J., & Mora Torcal, R. (2016). Ground stone tools and spatial organization at the Mesolithic site of font del Ros (southeastern Pre-Pyrenees, Spain). Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 5, 209–224.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rogachëv, A. N. (1957). Mnogosloinye stoianki kostënkovsko-borshëvskogo raiona na Donu i problema razvitiia kul’tury v epokhu verkhnego paleolita na Russkoi ravnine. Materialy i issledovaniia po arkheologii SSSR, 59, 9–134.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rogachёv, A. N., & Popov, V. V. (1982). Kostënki 11 (Anosovka 2). In N. D. Praslov & A. N. Rogachëv (Eds.), Paleolit Kostënkovsko-Borshchëvskogo raiona na Donu. 1879–1979: Nekotorye itogi polevykh issledovanii (pp. 116–132). Leningrad: Nauka.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rottländer, R. (1975). The formation of patina on flint. Archaeometry, 17(1), 106–110.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rountrey, A. N., Fisher, D. C., Tikhonov, A. N., Kosintsev, P. A., Lazarev, P. A., Boeskorov, G., & Buigues, B. (2012). Early tooth development, gestation, and season of birth in mammoths. Quaternary International, 255, 196–205.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rudinskii, M. I. (1947). Pushkari. Sovetskaia arkheologiia, 9, 171–198.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sablin, M. V. (1997). Ostatki mlekopitaiushchikh iz pozdnepaleoliticheskogo poseleniia Pushkari I. In V. I. Beliaeva (Ed.), Pushkarevskii Sbornik (pp. 35–43). Saint-Petersburg: Russian Academy of Sciences.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sablin, M. (2001). Late Pleistocene lynx from Kostenki 21 (Voronezh region, Russia). Deinsea, 8, 27–31.

    Google Scholar 

  • Saunders, J. J. (1980). A model for man–mammoth relationships in Late Pleistocene North America. Canadian Journal of Anthropology, 1, 87–98.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schwabedissen, H. (1954). Die Federmesser-Gruppen des nordwesteuropäischen Flachlandes: Zur Ausbreitung des Spät-Magdalénien. Offa-Bücher 9. Neumünster: Karl Wachholtz Verlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sinitsyn, A. A. (2007). Variabilité du Gravettien de Kostienki (Bassin moyen du Don) et des territoires associés. Paléo, 19, 181–202.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sinitsyn, A. A. (2013). Gravett Kostënok v kontekste gravetta Vostochnoi Evropy. In G. V. Sinitsyna (Ed.), Problemy zaseleniya Severo-Zapada Vostochnoi Evropy v verkhnem i final’nom paleolite (kul’turno-istoricheskie protsessy) (pp. 4–32). Saint Petersburg: IIMK RAN.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sinitsyn, A. A. (2014). K probleme kul’turnoi prinadlezhnosti Pushkarei 1. In D. G. Savinov & A. I. Murashkin (Eds.), Problemy arkheologii epokhi kamnia: k 70-letiiu Valentiny Ivanovny Beliaevoi: Sbornik nauchnykh statei (Trudy istoricheskogo fakul’teta SPbGU, Vol. 18) (pp. 234–244). Saint Petersburg: Izdatel’stvo SPbGU.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sinitsyn, A. A. (2015). Perspectives on the Palaeolithic of Eurasia: Kostenki and related sites. In N. Sanz (Ed.), Human origin sites and the World Heritage Convention in Eurasia (HEADS 4) (Vol. 1, pp. 163–189). Paris: UNESCO.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sinitsyn, A. A., Praslov, N. D., Svezhentsev, I. S., & Sulerzhitskii, L. D. (1997). Radiouglerodnaia khronologiia verkhnego paleolita Vostochnoi Evropy. In A. A. Sinitsyn & N. D. Praslov (Eds.), Radiouglerodnaia khronologiia paleolita Vostochnoi Evropy i Severnoi Azii. Problemy i perspektivy (pp. 21–66). Saint Petersburg: IIMK RAN.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sinitsyn, A. A., Stepanova, K. N., & Petrova, E. A. (2019). Novoe priamoe svidetel'stvo okhoty na mamonta iz Kostënok. Prehistoric Archaeology. Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, 1, 149–158.

  • Sobkowiak-Tabaka, I. (2017). Rozwój społecznośti Federmesser na Nizinie Środkowoeuropejskiej. Poznań: Wydawnictwo Instytutu Archeologii I Etnologii PAN.

    Google Scholar 

  • Soffer, O. (1985). The Upper Paleolithic of the Central Russian Plain. Orlando: Academic.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Stupak, D. V. (2008). Novi doslidzhennya verkhn’opaleolitychnoyi stoyanky Klyusy. In Doslidzhennya pervisnoyi arkheolohiyi v Ukrayini. Do 50-richchya vidkryttya paleolitychnoyi stoyanky Radomyshl’ (pp. 71–85). Kiev: IA NAN Ukrayiny.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sulerzhitskii, L. D. (2004). Vremia sushchestvovaniia nekotorykh pozdnepaleoliticheskikh poselenii po dannym radiouglerodnogo datirovaniia kostei megafauny. Rossiiskaia Arkheologiia, 2004(3), 103–112.

    Google Scholar 

  • Svezhentsev, Y. S., & Popov, S. G. (1993). Late Paleolithic chronology of the East European Plain. Radiocarbon, 35, 495–501.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tarasov, L. M. (1973). Novye svedeniia o zhilishche v Gagarino. Kratkie Soobshcheniia Instituta Arkheologii, 137, 63–69.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tarasov, L. M. (1979). Gagarinskaia stoianka i eë mesto v paleolite Evropy. Nauka: Leningrad.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tarassov, L. M. (1971). La double statuette paléolithique de Gagarino. Quartär, 22, 157–163.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thiry, M., Fernandes, P., Milnes, A., & Raynal, J.-P. (2014). Driving forces for the weathering and alteration of silica in the regolith: implications for studies of prehistoric flint tools. Earth-Science Reviews, 136, 141–154.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tkachenko, V. I. (2002). Pro deyaki kul'turno-istorichni osoblivosti pizn'opaleolitichnoyi pam'yatki Kliusi. Arkheologiya (Kiev), 2002(2), 84–90.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vekilova, E. A. (1977). Letopis’ rabot Kostënkovskoi paleolitcheskoi ekspeditsii (za 1922–1977gg.). In N. D. Praslov (Ed.), Problemy paleolita Vostochnoi i Tsentral’noi Evropy (pp. 208–215). Leningrad: Nauka.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vereshchagin, N. K., & Kuz’mina, I. E. (1977). Ostatki mlekopitaiushchikh iz paleoliticheskikh stoianok na Donu i verkhnei Desne. Trudy Zoologicheskogo instituta AN SSSR, 72, 77–110.

    Google Scholar 

  • von den Driesch, A. (1976). A guide to the measurement of animal bones from archaeological sites (Peabody Museum Bulletin 1). Cambridge (Massachusetts): Peabody Museum Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • White, R. (1997). Perspectives technologiques sur la « double statuette » de Gagarino. Techne, 5, 6–16.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilczyński, J. (2007). The Gravettian and Epigravettian lithic assemblages from Kraków-Spadzista B+B1: dynamic approach to the technology. Folia Quaternaria, 77, 37–96.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilczyński, J. (2015). Lithic inventory discovered in the Kraków Spadzista Trench E1—the result of the excavation carried out in 2012. In P. Wojtal, J. Wilczyński, & G. Haynes (Eds.), A Gravettian site in southern Poland: Kraków Spadzista (pp. 51–82). Kraków: ISEA PAS.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wojtal, P., Wilczyński, J., Zbigniew, M., Bocheński, Z. M., & Svoboda, J. A. (2012). The scene of spectacular feasts: animal remains from Pavlov I south-east, the Czech Republic. Quaternary International, 252, 122–141.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wojtal, P., Wilczyński, J., Wertz, K., & Svoboda, J. A. (2018). The scene of a spectacular feast (part II): animal remains from Dolní Vĕstonice II, the Czech Republic. Quaternary International, 466B, 194–211.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yellen, J. E. (1991). Small mammals: post-discard patterning of !Kung San faunal remains. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 10, 152–192.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yurgenson, G. A., Giria, E. Y., & Moroz, P. V. (2012). Kremnëvye syr’ë Kostënok i kremni Russkoi ravniny (opyt sravneniia). Stratum Plus, 2012(1), 179–191.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zamiatnine, S. N. (1934). La station aurignacienne de Gagarino et les données nouvelles qu’elle fournit sur les rites magiques des chasseurs quaternaries. In Bulletin de l’Académie d’Histoire de la Culture Matérielle (fasc. 88). Moscou–Leningrad: Les Éditions d’État.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zheltova, M. N. (2008). Kostënkovskie stoianki pervoi nadpoimennoi terrasy: varianty adaptatsii k okruzhaiushchei srede verkhnego Pleistotsena. In G. A. Khlopachëv (Ed.), Problemy biologicheskoi i kul’turnoi adaptatsii chelovecheskikh populiatsii. Tom 1: Arkheologiia: Adaptatsionnye strategii drevnego naseleniia Severnoi Evrazii: syr’ë i priëmy obrabotki (pp. 48–52). Saint Petersburg: Nauka.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zheltova, M. N. (2015). Kostenki 4: Gravettian of the east—not eastern Gravettian. Quaternary International, 359–60, 362–371.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zheltova, M. N., & Burova, N. D. (2014). Sopostavlenie zhilykh kompleksov Kostënok 4 na osnove izucheniia osteologicheskikh kollektsii. Stratum Plus, 2014(1), 111–144.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Alexander Dudin (Kostënki State Archaeological Museum-Reserve, Voronezh Oblast), Nina Khaikunova (State Historical Museum, Moscow) and Gennady Khlopachëv (Peter the Great Museum of Archaeology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera), Saint Petersburg) for kindly facilitating access to lithic collections. NR would like to thank Sonja Grimm for generous help with Federmesser points and Rick Schulting for discussions on flint patination and for drawing her attention to the work on Thatcham III. Particular thanks are due to Andrei Sinitsyn for highly productive and stimulating discussions and for his comments on a draft of this manuscript. We are very grateful to Katerina Douka for permitting us to refer to unpublished radiocarbon dates. We would like to thank Bertrand Panier for his help with Fig. 13. Finally, we thank the reviewers and editor for their comments, which helped to improve the manuscript. Any mistakes or shortcomings in the work naturally remain our responsibility.

Funding

This work was supported by a Postdoctoral Study Grant from the Fondation Fyssen (NR) and the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 747400 (NR). AB’s work was supported by the RFBR grants 17-06-00319a, 18-39-20009-mol-a-ved and by state assignment № 0184-2018-0012. The participation of the Zoological Institute RAS (state assignment № АААА-А17-117022810195-3) in this research is acknowledged.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. UMR 5199 PACEA, Université de Bordeaux, Bâtiment B8, Allée Geoffroy Saint Hilaire, CS 50023, 33615, PESSAC CEDEX, France

    N. Reynolds

  2. Operational Direction “Earth and History of Life”, Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Vautierstraat 29, 1000, Brussels, Belgium

    M. Germonpré

  3. Palaeolithic Department, Institute for the History of Material Culture RAS, Dvortsovaia nab. 18, Saint Petersburg, 191186, Russia

    A. A. Bessudnov

  4. Zoological Institute RAS, Universitetskaia nab. 1, Saint Petersburg, 199034, Russia

    M. V. Sablin

Authors
  1. N. Reynolds
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. M. Germonpré
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. A. A. Bessudnov
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. M. V. Sablin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to N. Reynolds.

Additional information

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Electronic Supplementary Material

ESM 1

(CSV 17 kb)

ESM 2

(CSV 14 kb)

ESM 3

(PDF 269 kb)

ESM 4

(R 3 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Reynolds, N., Germonpré, M., Bessudnov, A.A. et al. The Late Gravettian Site of Kostënki 21 Layer III, Russia: a Chronocultural Reassessment Based on a New Interpretation of the Significance of Intra-site Spatial Patterning. J Paleo Arch 2, 160–210 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41982-018-0018-6

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41982-018-0018-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation