Изделия из кости и рога с поселения бронзового века Калиновка-II

Abstract

The article presents the results of a comprehensive technical and functional study of a collection of bone and horn artefacts discovered during the excavations at the Bronze Age settlement the Kalinovka-II, located on the border of the steppe and forest-steppe Altai in the territory of the Mamontovsky district of the Altai Krai. In total, 33 items were analyzed, presented as whole products, as well as fragments, blanks. The most numerous categories of the products is blunt knives for kneading skins (“tupiki” in Russian archaeological terminology) made of animal jaws, which were widely used in the leather craft of the Late Bronze Age. The group of tools for processing leather and wool is complemented by needler, as well as a bone spindle whorl unique for the settlements of the Bronze Age of Altai. The set of horn objects differs in variety: mallet, handles, button, ornithomorphic finial, blank for cheek-piece. As a result of the study, it was established that the Kalinovka-II bone industry is characterized by the presence of a number of epoch-making features characteristic of almost all objects of the developed and late Bronze Age of the region. At the same time, single finds can be considered unique for the area under consideration (whorl, mallet) or having few analogies (ornithomorphic pommel). The proposed description of objects made of bone and horn, as well as techno-functional observations, supplement the information about the development of the bone industry in the developed and late stages of the Bronze Age in the steppe and forest-steppe Altai.