Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 45 (1) 2017   DOI: 10.17746/1563-0110.2017.45.1.076-082

Annotation:  New Findings on the Middle Paleolithic of the Eastern Adriatic: The Earliest Settlement at Bioče, M Geomorphology and Quaternary Sediments at Archaeological Sites Near Anzhevka, Krasnoyarsk Territory Archaeological Sites as Markers of Hydrosystem Transformation in the Kurai and Chuya Basins, Southea Agricultural Practice on the Korean Peninsula Taking into Account the Origin of Rice Agriculture in Avtodrom 2—a Late Neolithic (Artyn Culture) Site in the Baraba Forest-Steppe, Western Siberia A Generalized Assessment of Cultural Changes at Stratified Sites: The Case of Chalcolithic Fortresse A Dugout from the Don River Exhibited at the State Historical Museum, Moscow: Discovery and Dating A House Model from Popudnya, Cucuteni-Tripolye Culture, Ukraine: A New Interpretation Old Turkic Statues from Apshiyakta, Central Altai: On Female Representations in Turkic Monumental Ar Early Medieval Armor from Southern Siberia Leather Artifacts from Tara, Western Siberia, Excavated in 2012–2014 The Morphology of Permanent Molars from the Paleolithic Layers of Denisova Cave An Anthropological Study of Mummified Remains from the Zeleny Yar Cemetery on the Lower Ob, Western Patterns of Growth and Development in Urban and Rural Children of the Northern Part of European Russ   

A Dugout from the Don River Exhibited
at the State Historical Museum, Moscow: Discovery and Dating

E.A. Kashina

State Historical Museum, Krasnaya pl. 1, Moscow, 109012, Russia

A rare archaeological specimen from the Middle Don River, a large dugout found in 1954, is described. The history of discovery, fieldwork, and conservation are outlined. The key role at all stages belonged to M.E. Voss, who did her best to unearth and preserve the specimen—the first prehistoric dugout to be found, restored, and exhibited in the USSR. She passed away before being able to describe the boat in detail. Its age is still problematic. Though it is exhibited among the Mesolithic, Neolithic, and Chalcolithic finds and has been tentatively dated to the late third or early second millennium BC, certain facts relating to the archaeological context contradict this date, and no radiocarbon analysis has been conducted. A brief review of reportedly Stone Age dugouts from Europe is provided, with reference to discovery, restoration, and exhibition. Most appear to be younger than the Stone Age.

Keywords: Dugouts, peat-bog sites, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, radiocarbon age, fossilized wood.