Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 42 (1) 2014

Annotation:  The Pleistocene Peopling of the North: Paleolithic Milestones and Thresholds Horizons in Northern Eu The Levallois Mousterian Assemblages of Sindh (Pakistan) and Their Relations with the Middle Paleol Chronology of the Uralian Neolithic The Late Krotovo (Cherno-Ozerye) Culture in the Irtysh Forest-Steppe, Western Siberia An Experimental Study of Percussion Technologies in the Minusinsk Basin: Percussion and Tool Types Prehistoric Wars and the Origin of Military Power (Based on Archaeological and Historical- Ethnolog Anthropomorphic Wooden Figures from the Trans-Urals Images on Metal Ware: The Graphic Art of Northwestern Siberia and the Cis-Urals Seventeenth Century Moscow Tiles in Russia Female Ornaments of the Xiongnu-Xianbei Age from Ulug-Choltukh, the Edigan River Valley, Gorny Alta Kayakers Near Scotland’s Northern Shores at the Turn of the 17th–18th Centuries: Main Theories of O Bichura Village (Transbaikalia): Foundation and Population Growth (18th–Late 20th Century) Trepanation Among the Early Nomads of Gorny Altai: A Multidisciplinary Study On the Biological Distinctness of the Pit-Grave (Yamnaya) People in the Northwestern Caspian: Crania   

An Experimental Study of Percussion Technologies in the Minusinsk Basin: Percussion and Tool Types

L.V. Zotkina, A.S. Tekhterekov, V.M. Kharevich, and H. Plisson.

Technological and traceological analyses of petroglyphic art are based on experiments at various levels, from the general to the more specifi c. In this article we formulate the objectives of future technological studies into the petroglyphs of the Minusinsk Basin. We address the morphology and material of tools, and principal technological devices used including direct and indirect percussion (piquetage). Based on experiments using local rocks and the results of traceological analysis we establish the morphological features of traces left by metal tools and by those made on local pebbles. A new technological criterion is suggested regarding the robustness of the tools with which the carvings were made. Basic technological stages in the creation of petroglyphs are reconstructed for Shalabolino and Malaya Boyarskaya rock art sites.

Keywords: Petroglyphs, experiment, traceological analysis, technology, percussion, Siberia, Minusinsk Basin.