Reconstruction of the environmental conditions during the earliest Palaeolithic occupations in the Podillia Upland (W Ukraine) and the formation of archaeological layers

Abstract

This paper discusses the problems associated with determining the chronology of Palaeolithic settlements in the Podillian region and presents possible solutions to this issue, based on studies of the natural environment in two Palaeolithic centres: Buhliv and Ternopil (BPC and TPC, respectively). Problems arise from the local stratigraphic diversity of the loess-palaeosol sequences containing layers with artefacts, and their multiple redepositions result from periglacial processes. Very often, traces of ancient settlements are disturbed by continuous and/or discontinuous palaeocryogenic deformations. Consequently, it is rare to obtain Palaeolithic data in situ. In contrast, artefacts found without redeposition often lie within or on the surfaces of fossil soils. The main research materials were obtained at the early Palaeolithic site in Buhliv, whose geological profiles are incomplete. The complementary data necessary for the reconstruction of the palaeogeographical time of Palaeolithic settlements associated with cultural layers were obtained in our previous studies using multiple tools, together with luminescence dating of sediments located in close and distant proximity to the BPC, as well as in loess sites located in the TPC, especially Velykyi Glybochok.Our findings indicate that the early Middle Palaeolithic artefacts at the Buhliv site formed two stratigraphically inverted horizons, with the younger artefacts lying beneath the older ones following redeposition. The inventory of the older layers represents the oldest Podillian settlement phase. Similar materials were found in the TPC in older soil of MIS 7. The inventory of the younger layer occurred during the younger soil-forming stage of MIS 7. The disturbance and burial of both early Middle Palaeolithic settlement traces were caused by intensive slope processes that occurred in the early MIS 6.