Stratigraphic position and natural environment of the oldest Middle Palaeolithic in central Podolia, Ukraine: New data from the Velykyi Glybochok site

Abstract

Velykyi Glybochok is an important multi-cultural Palaeolithic site, known since 1979. Besides the Late Palaeolithic (I) and Upper Palaeolithic (II) cultural layers, in this site the following Middle Palaeolithic layers are found: III-B in the soil from the last interglacial, III-A in the Ternopil soil horizon from the penultimate glaciation, and III (the oldest Palaeolithic settlement in Podolia) in the soil from the penultimate interglacial. The ages of these cultural layers are determined from their situation in a complex sequence of loesses and paleosols. In this paper we report the results of excavations carried out in the years 2007–2012, which were supplemented with geophysical recognition. The excavations were conducted in a karst depression formed in Neogene limestones. It is filled and covered by loess containing partially redeposited paleosols. These deposits were sampled for lithological, palaeopedological, palaeomagnetic and palynological analyses, the results of which were used for palaeoenvironmental interpretation. Chronostratigraphy was determined based on TL and IRSL dating as well as palaeomagnetic studies. In comparison with the older investigations, the new discovery is quite well-preserved, with a bipartite complex of paleosols (S2-II and S2-I) from the penultimate interglacial (MIS 7), which occurs between the Odranian (Dnieper) loess L3 and the Wartanian (Tyasmin) loess L2. The paleosols are of interglacial nature. Forest and then steppe vegetation grew during two stages of their formation, which were separated by a cool period when a small accumulation of loess and frost processes occurred. The oldest Middle Palaeolithic cultural layer occurs in the older soil (S2-II), indicating that it is the trace of the oldest Palaeolithic settlement in the western Ukraine. Flint artefacts were made using the Levallois method, rarely found in the sites with the Middle Palaeolithic oldest assemblages, rare in Eastern Europe.