Stone inventory discovered at a Mesolithic site in the North of Western Siberia
In this article, we investigate a stone inventory from a newly-discovered Mesolithic site. This site is located by the Salym River on the territory of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug. The collection of artefacts contains about 22 thousand findings, which characterize the entire cycle of stone proc...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | Russian |
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Tyumen Scientific Centre SB RA
2018-12-01
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| Series: | Вестник археологии, антропологии и этнографии |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.ipdn.ru/va-en/_private/a43/enga43-1-1.htm |
| _version_ | 1831593259906891776 |
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| author | Serikov Yu.В. Balueva Y.V. Konovalenko M.V. |
| author_facet | Serikov Yu.В. Balueva Y.V. Konovalenko M.V. |
| author_sort | Serikov Yu.В. |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In this article, we investigate a stone inventory from a newly-discovered Mesolithic site. This site is located by the Salym River on the territory of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug. The collection of artefacts contains about 22 thousand findings, which characterize the entire cycle of stone processing from the splitting of cobbles to the production of flakes and implements. The splitting technology was aimed at making flakes from lithic cores, with 90 % of these cores being up to 3 cm in diameter. Secondary processing products (4.7 %) consist in scrapers, awls, chisels, cutters and reworked flakes. The flakes have a microlithic character, with 97.5 % of them being up to 1 cm in width. The analysis of different parts of the flakes shows that Mesolithic people preferred to use stone fragments (30.4 %) and flakes having a clipped dorsal surface (14.2 %). When creating tools, retouching was frequently used (in 72.6 % of cases). The ratio between the number of artefacts made from primary and secondary flakes equals 47.6 %. In terms of mineralogical composition, the site features over 40 types, with sandstone, shale, siliceous shale, chalcedony, flint and jasper most frequently used (in 87.4 % of cases). A distinctive feature of the site consists in its geometric microliths, archaic concave retouched burins, bifacial and pebbles depicting various zoomorphic shapes. In terms of technical and typological characteristics, the data obtained from the Bolshoi Salym 4 settlement is fully consistent with the excavation data from other Western Siberian sites. Since hundreds of Mesolithic sites, consisting of encampments, settlements, work sites, sanctuaries and graves, have been discovered in the Urals, it can be supposed that the inhabitation of the Western Siberia by Mesolithic population proceeded from the territory of the Urals towards Siberia. The inventory of stone artefacts at the Bolshoi Salym 4 Mesolithic site is the largest so far discovered in Western Siberia, thus having great importance for an understanding of how Mesolithic people came to settle the West Siberian Plain. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-18T10:18:52Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-3be952451d9b4cf3ba1ce1117ddb794f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1811-7465 2071-0437 |
| language | Russian |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-18T10:18:52Z |
| publishDate | 2018-12-01 |
| publisher | Tyumen Scientific Centre SB RA |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Вестник археологии, антропологии и этнографии |
| spelling | doaj.art-3be952451d9b4cf3ba1ce1117ddb794f2022-12-21T21:11:12ZrusTyumen Scientific Centre SB RAВестник археологии, антропологии и этнографии1811-74652071-04372018-12-014(43)51910.20874/2071-0437-2018-43-4-005-019Stone inventory discovered at a Mesolithic site in the North of Western SiberiaSerikov Yu.В. 0Balueva Y.V.1Konovalenko M.V.2Russian State professional-pedagogical university (Nizhniy Tagil branch)Research and Production Association «Northern archaeology-1»Research and Production Association «Northern archaeology-1»In this article, we investigate a stone inventory from a newly-discovered Mesolithic site. This site is located by the Salym River on the territory of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug. The collection of artefacts contains about 22 thousand findings, which characterize the entire cycle of stone processing from the splitting of cobbles to the production of flakes and implements. The splitting technology was aimed at making flakes from lithic cores, with 90 % of these cores being up to 3 cm in diameter. Secondary processing products (4.7 %) consist in scrapers, awls, chisels, cutters and reworked flakes. The flakes have a microlithic character, with 97.5 % of them being up to 1 cm in width. The analysis of different parts of the flakes shows that Mesolithic people preferred to use stone fragments (30.4 %) and flakes having a clipped dorsal surface (14.2 %). When creating tools, retouching was frequently used (in 72.6 % of cases). The ratio between the number of artefacts made from primary and secondary flakes equals 47.6 %. In terms of mineralogical composition, the site features over 40 types, with sandstone, shale, siliceous shale, chalcedony, flint and jasper most frequently used (in 87.4 % of cases). A distinctive feature of the site consists in its geometric microliths, archaic concave retouched burins, bifacial and pebbles depicting various zoomorphic shapes. In terms of technical and typological characteristics, the data obtained from the Bolshoi Salym 4 settlement is fully consistent with the excavation data from other Western Siberian sites. Since hundreds of Mesolithic sites, consisting of encampments, settlements, work sites, sanctuaries and graves, have been discovered in the Urals, it can be supposed that the inhabitation of the Western Siberia by Mesolithic population proceeded from the territory of the Urals towards Siberia. The inventory of stone artefacts at the Bolshoi Salym 4 Mesolithic site is the largest so far discovered in Western Siberia, thus having great importance for an understanding of how Mesolithic people came to settle the West Siberian Plain.http://www.ipdn.ru/va-en/_private/a43/enga43-1-1.htmWest Siberian plainMesolithicraw materials crisismikrolitizatsiyageometric microlitecurly pebble |
| spellingShingle | Serikov Yu.В. Balueva Y.V. Konovalenko M.V. Stone inventory discovered at a Mesolithic site in the North of Western Siberia Вестник археологии, антропологии и этнографии West Siberian plain Mesolithic raw materials crisis mikrolitizatsiya geometric microlite curly pebble |
| title | Stone inventory discovered at a Mesolithic site in the North of Western Siberia |
| title_full | Stone inventory discovered at a Mesolithic site in the North of Western Siberia |
| title_fullStr | Stone inventory discovered at a Mesolithic site in the North of Western Siberia |
| title_full_unstemmed | Stone inventory discovered at a Mesolithic site in the North of Western Siberia |
| title_short | Stone inventory discovered at a Mesolithic site in the North of Western Siberia |
| title_sort | stone inventory discovered at a mesolithic site in the north of western siberia |
| topic | West Siberian plain Mesolithic raw materials crisis mikrolitizatsiya geometric microlite curly pebble |
| url | http://www.ipdn.ru/va-en/_private/a43/enga43-1-1.htm |
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