PALAEOLITHIC IN D. YA. TELEHIN’S RESEARCH

Abstract

The article is devoted to the coverage of a little-known aspect of D. Ya. Telehin’s scientific activity, namely his research related to Palaeolithic sites and Palaeolithic issues. Although this was clearly not the main area of the scientist’s concern, his interest for Palaeolithic studies has accompanied him throughout his scientific life.
 In the early 1950s, D. Ya. Telehin participated in the works of I. F. Levytskyi at the site Mynivskyi Yar at Seversky Donets, in eastern Ukraine. The lower layer of the site belongs to the period 18—13 thousand years ago. In fact, at the time of excavations, it was the only Upper Palaeolithic site in the region that was investigated on a relatively large area.
 In the mid-twentieth century, a cascade of new hydroelectric power plants and reservoirs was being built on the Dnieper. During the field seasons of 1953 and 1957, D. Ya. Telehin’s explorations in the area of construction of the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power plant and the Kakhovskoye reservoir discovered, in addition to numerous sites from later periods, the first upper Palaeolithic locations of the Lower Dnieper, namely: Shyroka, Valivalska and Merzlyakova gullies.
 In 1975 together with N. I. Tarasenko, D. Ya. Telegin conducts excavations at the Rogalyk farm. According to modern interpretation, the remains of three new stratified sites were discovered during these works. The authors have identified the materials as early Mesolithic; they are now attributed to the final Palaeolithic.
 In 1976 D. Ya. Telehin researches the Upper Palaeolithic site of Zbranky near the eponymous village in the Ovruch loess area. The materials found once again, after the works of I. F. Levytskyi and V. A. Mesyats, confirmed that this region was actively exploited by the Palaeolithic man at the end of the Pleistocene.
 A number of new, mostly surface, Upper Palaeolithic sites were discovered by the «Dnieper-Donbas» and «Slavutych» expeditions led by D. Ya. Telehin in 1970—74 and 1980—83 on the territory of the Middle Dnieper Basin (Chernyavshchyna, Pereschepyno, Khizhnyakivka, etc.) and the middle reaches of Southern Buh (Apolyanka, Berezyno).
 During the 1980s, D. Ya. Telehin investigated the area of the left bank of the Dnieper River near the mouth of the Sula River. This work resulted in the discovery of a new concentration of Upper Palaeolithic sites. The features of lithic assemblages make it possible to identify groups of later and earlier sites in the preliminary view, including the so-called archaic Upper Palaeolithic.
 In 1984, D. Ya. Telehin investigated the location of Semenivka 1 in Baryshevsky district of Kiev region in the valley of Trubizh river. The peculiarities of the stone tools allowed to see the nearest analogies to the findings in the materials of the sites of Epigravettian mammoth hunters. Studies at Semenivka 1 gave an impulse for further searches in this area.
 The brief overview offered shows that although Palaeolithic studies were not in the focus of D. Ya. Telehin’s attention, his works are nevertheless deservedly included in the general fund for achievements in domestic Palaeolithic studies.