USE OF ANIMAL BONES BY THE PALEOLITHIC POPULATION OF THE SOSVA AND TAVDA RIVERS

Abstract

A total of 234 bones with use-wear traces have been found at the Paleolithic settlement Garinskaya (Sosva river, Sverdlovsk region), 37 of which were discovered on nearby mammoth "cemeteries". All the bones can be subdivided into the following three groups: 1) Bones which were used as implements (abrasives, knives, planes, blowing, earthmoving and cutting tools); 2) Bones used in associated operations (anvils, work tables, tanks, structural elements); 3) Bones not used for utility purposes. Ancient people used both "fresh" mammoth bones and those having laid on the surface for long periods of time. The wide use of animal bones in household activities reveal the specific features of the adaptation of Paleolithic population to the local environmental conditions. Most probably, people brought such bones from nearby mammoth "cemeteries". It should be mentioned that such use of animal bones was typical for all Ural settlements of the open type during the Upper Paleolithic. © 2020 Academy of Sciences of Tatarstan, A.Kh. Khalikov Archaeology Institute. All Rights Reserved.