Resource of Paleolithic artefacts of Lower Dnieper

Abstract

This paper describers the state of archaeological resource of Paleolithic artefacts in the territory of the Lower Dnieper. The places, discovery dates, the names of the researchers conducted excavations are presented. According to the aim of the issue, the general description of the history of Palaeothic artefacts of Lower Dniper is presented. The analysis of the representational historiographic base of the issue gave an opportunity to discover the first scaled study provided by Gornostaevskaya archeological expedition in the region in 1950-s which was connected with Kachovskyi’s reservoir building. The later studies were performed by Kherson’s expedition affiliated to the Institute of Archeology of Ukrainian Academy of Science. During the years of independence some restudies were provided by the enthusiastic scientists, M.P. Olenkovsky’s work could be distinguished among them. Approximately thirty and a half stations of Paleolithic Age were found in the region. Unfortunately, the vast majority of the stations were destroyed. The oldest discoveries are presented by the two stations of the Middle Paleolithic Age: the first is situated between the villages of Balky and Blagovishchenko; the second is Rock Orel near Maychka village. The author determines the problems which the Ukrainian researchers face: 1) the vast majority of the stations are destroyed by the waters of Kachovka’s reservoir or the soil reclamation works; 2) the problem of artefacts’ final dating; 3) the lack of finance of the scientific institutions which has a negative influence on the further studies.