Upper Paleolithic Osseous Materials Artefacts from Piatra Neamț – Poiana Cireșului. 2010-2011 Excavation Campaigns

Abstract

The 2010 and 2011 archaeological excavations from the well-known site from Piatra Neamţ-Poiana Cireşului, Neamţ County (dated from Upper Paleolithic – Gravettian culture) led by Professor Marin Cârciumaru (“Valahia” University, Târgovişte) offered the opportunity of recovering an assemblage of osseous materials artefacts comprising 11 pieces made of mammoth ivory and reindeer antler. They were recovered from S VIII/2010 and S XI/2011. The importance of this assemblage is underlined by their rarity in the Romanian Upper Paleolithic discoveries. The typological classification revealed the existence of followings categories (according to Beldiman 2007 Typological List) : I. Tools ; II. Weapons ; V. Varia – Technical pieces, debris. The last category is predominant and it is represented by : segments of reindeer tines (5) and beam (1). They are followed by the finished objects (4) : an ivory spear point ; a reindeer spear point ; an end scraper made of reindeer tine ; an end scraper made of a fragment of reindeer beam. There is a single blank made of reindeer beam that probably was prepared to obtain an end scraper or a spear point. The analysis of the artefacts allowed us to observe some manufacturing schemes applied during the processing of reindeer antler or the manufacturing stages of certain types of pieces (ivory and reindeer spear points ; end scrapers made of reindeer tine or beam). Also, we could reconstruct the technological environment in which those artefacts were used. Here we may mention : the débitage of the reindeer antler by direct percussion/chopping with a massive lithic piece ; direct percussion/ fracture with a lithic hammer ; groove and splinter technique applied on the opposed surfaces of the reindeer beam with the purpose of detaching a segment or tine ; this was followed by the direct percussion/chopping. The shaping stage is represented by two simple procedures : axial scraping and direct percussion, followed by chopping technique. The intense axial scraping is used in order to obtain smooth surfaces ; this is the case of ivory and reindeer antler spear points. In order to obtain the active parts of the end scrapers the direct percussion/chopping, followed by the axial scraping were applied. There are no clear usewear traces because the surfaces were affected by the taphonomic processes like the corrosion produced by the soil acids and the roots of the plants, fissures and exfoliations etc. The osseous materials industry from the site attests some economic activities. The archaeological contexts connect the artefacts with hunting/ weaponry, with the processing of the reindeer carcasses/hides and with the process of transforming various raw materials. The artefact PNC/2010 5 offers an important clue regarding the season in which the site was inhabited. The piece is a base of a reindeer beam gathered in the autumn time (in October-November). This detail is added to the observations that were obtained during the archaeozoological analysis and it underlines the hypothesis according to which the site was inhabited during the autumn time. Even if the assemblage is composed of few artefacts, they offer important chrono-cultural and paleotechnological observations in terms of a complex and extensive approach of manifestations of civilisation and culture in the Paleolithic communities. The osseous materials industry analysed with this occasion is included in above mentioned context. In this respect, the general catalogue of discoveries was augmented with pieces that were used like spear armatures (made of mammoth ivory and reindeer antler) or with tools (reindeer end scrapers used for carcass processing and for hides working. These could have also been used like daggers.). We have to underline the importance of the mammoth ivory piece that increases the number of these artefacts at 5 in Piatra Neamţ-Poiana Cireşului site. At the moment, this is the most important Romanian site with pieces made of ivory dated from the Upper Paleolithic.