«Керамика» Зарайской верхнепалеолитической стоянки

Abstract

Zaraysk is one of the best studied and known Russian Upper Paleolithic sites of the Kostenki-Willendorf type. One of the most intriguing findings of excavations at that site concerns an unusual group of artifacts, tentatively interpreted as ceramics. The article gives their detailed description and addresses their spatial distribution. The items have been subjected to firing, but the chemical and mineralogical analysis suggests that they were made of ocher or highly ferruginized clay unsuitable for manufacturing ordinary ceramics. Poor preservation caused by taphonomic processes precludes a reliable reconstruction of the original morphology and function of the items. Their shape, however, is rather standard and is paralleled by the “non-figurative ceramics” of Pavlov and Dolni Věstonice, whose function is not clear either. It appears that the Zaraysk people tried to reproduce the Central European prototypes in terms of form and function, but, intentionally or not, used a raw material suitable for making a red pigment rather than ceramics. Formally, the Zaraysk pieces can hardly be described as ceramics proper, possibly evidencing unsuccessful copying. The final answer, then, hinges on the true purposes of the manufacturers.