MESOLITHIC MICROLITHIC ITEMS FROM MONUMENT COMPLEXES “KOKSHAROVSKY HILL SANCTUARY – YURYINO SETTLEMENT”

Abstract

Yuryino settlement has a bulk sanctuary hill (Koksharovsky). The settlement is located on the southern bank of the Yuryinskoe Lake (Verkhnesaldinsky District of the Sverdlovsk Region). The Durnaya River flows into the lake from the south, and the Yurya River flows in from the north. The settlement occupies the right estuary cape, where the river falls into the lake. "Koksharovsky hill sanctuary – Yuryino settlement" is a complex of sites investigated by excavations for 20 years by various archaeologists: A.I. Rassadovich (1955, 1957, 1960), V.F. Starkov (1964) and A.F. Shorin (1995, 1997–1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2008–2013, 2015). The author studies the stone inventory (17,852 items) of the excavated sites, which makes it possible to identify a complex of microlithic items amounting to 2,189 pieces. This is 12.3 % of the entire collection of the studied stone inventory. The initial raw materials were siliceous rock tiles 2 to 6.5 cm long. The height of the nucleus ranges from 1.8 to 4.2 cm. Nucleus up to 3 cm high make up 84.2 %. They are represented by three main types: butt end, prismatic, conical and alike variations. There are 1,403 plates without retouching in the collection. The prevalent plates comprise 87.7 % and range between 0.5–0.9 cm in width. The complex of plates with secondary treatment (119 items) consists of plates with the back, bottom, or both retouched, with a blunted retouched ends and with retouched recesses. The tools complex is represented by burins, carvers, burincarver, points and scrapers. Most of the burins are at the corner of the plates. It is noteworthy that there are two transverse retouching burins in the complex. Tools with straight and beak-shaped working edges predominate among the carvers. The points (needle-shaped, with eminent wings, with a pointed end and beveled) are treated with fine edge retouching. Miniature scrapers are made on the plates. It is rare to find two geometric microlitеs in the form of fragments of low elongated asymmetric trapezoids with a side recess. 20 types of mineral raw materials were used on the site. The most popular ones are green jasper rock (33.7 %), siliceous slate (31.8 %) and flint (black, gray, brown, mottled) (21 %). Chalcedony (4.1 %) and multicolored jasper (light and dark gray, sealing wax, red-green, spotted, cream) (4.4 %) were used far less often. This microlithic complex in all respects (height of the nucleus, width of the plates, burins, carvers and geometric microlites found) fully corresponds to the materials of the supporting Mesolithic sites of the Middle Urals and should be attributed to the Mesolithic era. © 2023 Authors. All rights reserved.