Multilayered Lower Paleolithic site of Bairaki (Lower Dniester basin): Paleosols, palaeotopography, deposits, and lithic assemblages

Abstract

The study of the stratified Lower Paleolithic site of Bairaki demonstrated that human ancestors appeared in the south of the East European Plain over a million years ago and were present at this site for over 500 thousand years. The Bairaki site is located in the extensive terrace system of the Dniester and is confined to the 7th Kitskany terrace. Six horizons of Lower Paleolithic finds were discovered in the section. The most ancient ones related to the Oldowan technology are found in different facies of the alluvial complex. Three paleosols of the Lower and Middle Pleistocene were distinguished within the loess-paleosol mantle overlying the alluvium of the 7th Dniester terrace, which is associated with the Early Paleolithic finds. Buried small erosional forms of different age allowed us to clarify the number and stratigraphic position of both artifact-bearing levels and paleosols. The regional trend of soil formation during this long period indicates the increasing climatic aridization and cooling as evidenced by changes from subtropical to warm temperate paleosols. Bairaki is the only multilayered site of such an early age known in Eastern Europe.