On the Technological and Typological Integrity of Assemblages From North-Western Ukraine Between 35 and 30 kyr cal BP

Andreas Maier,Ivan Khoptynets,Dmytro Stupak,Pavlo Vasyliev,Vitalii Tkach

doi:10.15407/archaeologyua2020.03.008

Abstract

The sites of Myrohoshcha I, Hriadky, Zshorniv, and Chervonyi Kamin are located in the central part of the Volhynian loess Plateau in north-western Ukraine. The assemblages, known from excavations and surface collections, exhibit a number of characteristics, which are traditionally seen to be indicative of different periods. Therefore, these assemblages were thought to represent palimpsests of Middle and Upper Paleolithic occupations. In 2018, these assemblages have been reviewed. At Myrohoshcha I, the old trench could be located and new excavations were carried out. In this paper, the results of the excavations from 2018 as well as preliminary notes on the campaign of 2019 are presented and the technological and typological characteristics of the assemblages are discussed. By demonstrating the repeated and consistent combination of specific and characteristic features, it is considered that these assemblages are neither mixed nor representative of a long settlement history. Instead, they rather seem to represent a coherent set of features, probably characteristic for the period roughly between 35 and 30 kyr cal BP.

Highlights

The historic region of Volhynia is situated at about 50 ° northern latitude in today’s north-western Ukraine, parts of south-eastern Poland, and south-western Belarus
It roughly corresponds to the extent of the Volhynian loess plateau, a gently rolling landscape stretching circa 6o km from north to south, roughly between the Prypiat marshes and the Podolian Upland and 300 km from eastern Poland to Novohrad-Volynskyi in Ukraine
The loess plateau is subdivided into smaller units by rivers flowing predominantly north, such as the Western Bug, Styr and Horyn, the two latter joining the Prypiat, which itself is a tributary to the Dnieper

Summary

Introduction

The historic region of Volhynia is situated at about 50 ° northern latitude in today’s north-western Ukraine, parts of south-eastern Poland, and south-western Belarus. About 30 Paleolithic sites are known between the Styr and Horyn rivers Several of these sites have been known from surface collections and were subject to numerous test trenches and extensive excavations. I. Ostrovskyi and Grigoriev (1966), Piasetskyi saw a cultural development from Ivanychi over Chervonyi Kamin to Myrohoshcha I as «successive stages of Lypa Paleolithic culture» A review of the technological and typological characteristics of Myrohoshcha I, Hriadky, Zhorniv, and Chervonyi Kamin is presented By emphasizing their strong similarities and repeatedly co-occurring traits, we aim at demonstrating that these assemblages constitute coherent artifact associations. Based on the findings of the new excavations at Myrohoshcha I, which are roughly in agreement with an older 14C-date from Zhorniv, these assemblages seem to date approximately between 35 and 30 kyr cal BP

Material and Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion