Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 42 (3) 2014

Annotation:  Zooarchaeology and Taphonomy of the Middle-Upper Paleolithic in Bondi Cave, Republic of Georgia Development of a Virtual 3D Model of Denisova Cave in the Altai Mountains Holocene Seal Imagery in the Lake Baikal Region of Eastern Siberia The Organization of the Mortuary Space in the Late Bronze Age: The Stary Sad Burial Ground, Baraba F Cheek-Pieces for a Horse Harness from the Kamenny Ambar Settlement “Hoofed Carnivore” Image Carved on a Bone Spoon from the Sara Burial Ground, Eastern Orenburg Region Subsistence and Ritual Practices at the Polui Fortifi ed Settlement, Western Siberia (Based on Fauna Revisiting the Chronology of the Early Sculptural Art of Kashmir, India New Belt of the “Byzantine Circle” from the Medieval Bayanovsky Burial Ground in the Perm Territory Alloy Composition in the Prestigious Silver Ware of the Old Turkic Period of Southern Siberia Concerning the History of Russian Archaeology in the Studies of A.D. Pryakhin (For the 75th Annivers Elements of the Inau Cult in Ethnic and Cultural Contacts of the Southern Far East The Mount of Yzykh Tagh with Relation to the Sacred Space and Ritual of the Khakas (Late 19th–20th C Native Populations of the Northern Altai: Demographic Processes of the Late 19th–Early 21st Century Bilateral Asymmetry of Long Bones in Bronze and Early Iron Age Pastoralists of the Altai   

Zooarchaeology and Taphonomy of the Middle-Upper Paleolithic in Bondi Cave, Republic of Georgia

R. Yeshurun, M.-H. Moncel, D. Pleurdeau, R. Pinhasi, N. Tushabramishvili, T. Agapishvili, and D. Lordkipanidze.

We present a detailed zooarchaeological and taphonomic study of Bondi Cave, western Georgia, containing Middle Paleolithic and Upper Paleolithic levels. The faunal assemblages are dominated by Caucasian tur (Capra caucasica) and European bison (Bison cf. bonasus). High proportions of specimens bearing cut marks and percussion marks indicate that human activity was the main depositional agent. Carcass transport was selective according to the animal’s size. Assemblage characteristics suggest short occupations of the cave by mobile Upper Paleolithic foragers. The general composition of the fauna probably refl ects a more open setting for the Upper Paleolithic human occupations in this region, compared to the Holocene.

Keywords: Late Pleistocene, Caucasus, hunting, paleoecology.