Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 37 (4) 2009

Annotation:  Paleolithic Site Biryuchya Balka-2: Geology, Chronology, and Paleoecology Tolbaga: Upper Paleolithic Settlement Patterns in the Trans-Baikal Region Paleogeography of Kostenki-14 (Markina Gora) Triquestrums of the Scythian Period in the Northern Altai Woven Belts from Sargat Mound 7 at Chepkul-9 Early and Middle Bronze Age Portable Art Pieces from the Forest-Steppe Zone of the Ob-Irtysh Region Anthropomorphic, Zoomorphic, and Solar Symbolisms on Bronze Age Ceramics from the Western Baikal Re Petroglyphs on the Poperechnaya Krasnoyarka River Images of Eurasian Ethnicity in Works of Renaissance Polish Historians The Pleiades as Openings, the Milky Way as the Path of Birds, and the Girl in the Moon: Northern Eur Felt Boot Rollers of the Altai Craniometric Evidence of the Early Caucasoid Migrations to Siberia and Eastern Central Asia, with R Principal Findings of the 20th-Century Population Studies in Tuva On the Origin of the Ryukyu Islanders: The Integration of Craniometric and Cranial Nonmetric Data   

Paleolithic Site Biryuchya Balka-2: Geology, Chronology, and Paleoecology

A.E. Matyukhin and T.V. Sapelko.

The current article provides a discussion of the geological, chronological, and environmental aspects of Biryuchya Balka-2, a stratifi ed Paleolithic site situated in the Seversky Donets valley of Rostov Oblast. Excavations have revealed seven Mousterian and four Upper Paleolithic horizons. Upper Paleolithic industries include endscrapers, sidescrapers, and bifacial tools. Mousterian horizons are characterized by volumetric reduction (prismatic cores and blades) as well as by traditional primary reduction techniques. The results of palynological analysis suggest that loams containing fl int tools were formed during both warm and cold periods. The Late Paleolithic horizons date to 26 and 31 ka BP whilst one of the upper Mousterian horizons dates to 40 ka. Although this date would appear too late, the break in habitation can be explained by a late cold period (34–32.5 ka BP). The emergence of new stone reduction techniques, specifi cally the blade technique appears to have resulted purely from technological modifi cation. The role of environmental factors, however, cannot be entirely ruled out.

Keywords: Seversky Donest River, Biryuchya Balka-2, Paleolithic, chronology, geology, palynology, paleozoology, paleoclimate, environment.