Elsevier

Journal of Archaeological Science

Volume 54, February 2015, Pages 270-278
Journal of Archaeological Science

Saiga antelope hunting in Crimea at the Pleistocene–Holocene transition: the site of Buran-Kaya III Layer 4

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2014.12.012Get rights and content

Highlights

  • We study the Swiderian site of Buran-Kaya III Layer 4 in Crimea.

  • Saiga antelope is the dominant species in the assemblage.

  • Saiga antelope were processed for meat and marrow.

  • The location of the site is likely related to antelope herds behavior.

  • More research is needed to fully understand subsistence behavior during the Late Glacial and early Holocene.

Abstract

The Swiderian tradition of the Tanged Point Complex (Late Upper Palaeolithic) is attested in Crimea through a few ill-known sites dated to the Younger Dryas and early Preboreal. Little information on subsistence is available on this period yet; with this article, we present the results of zooarchaeological analyses conducted on the site of Buran-Kaya III Layer 4, in central Crimea. Saiga antelope (Saiga tatarica) is the dominant species of the assemblage, followed by red fox (Vulpes vulpes), horse (Equus ferus), and hare (Lepus europaeus). Despise the important presence of canid remains, taphonomic observations as well as archaeological context suggest that human is the main accumulator of saiga antelope remains. Hunter–gatherers likely brought the antelope carcasses whole to the site and performed skinning activity, as well as consumption of meat and bone marrow. Seasonality data from juvenile antelope suggest that the animals were acquired in the late summer or Fall. Based on the ethology of modern populations of saiga antelope, we infer that hunter–gatherers took advantage of the particular geographic setting of the Crimean mountains to efficiently exploit this resource. By drawing comparisons with other known sites of this period, we call attention for future research in exploring the seasonality of subsistence in the Crimea at the Pleistocene–Holocene transition.

Introduction

Crimea, in southeastern Europe, has yielded a long and rich record of Palaeolithic settlement. While the Middle Palaeolithic and older phases of the Upper Palaeolithic have received much international attention (Chabai et al., 1995, Chabai et al., 2004, Chabai, 1998, Marks and Chabai, 1998, Chabai and Monigal, 1999, Enloe et al., 2000, Burke, 2006, Patou-Mathis, 2009, Prat et al., 2011, Demidenko et al., 2012, Péan et al., 2013, Crépin et al., 2014), comparatively little is known about the Late Glacial and early Holocene periods, between about 16,000 and 10,000 cal. BP. And yet this period in southeastern Europe presents a remarkably complex archaeological record, in which a diversity of technological and cultural complexes have been described: southern Ukraine has yielded sites interpreted as local manifestations of a greater Late Epigravettian tradition, including the Molodovian (lower Dniester) and the Osokorovkian (lower Dnieper) (Zaliznyak, 1999); the northern Caucasus has yielded sites attributed to an Imeretian complex, which itself may be related to the Epigravettian, with the presence of gravettes and microgravettes, and/or the Natufian of the Near East, with the presence of geometric microliths (Golovanova et al., 2012); and the lower Danube has yielded sites described as Late Epigravettian or Tardigravettian, or alternatively an eastern, “Romanellian” version, of the Azilian complex (Dinu et al., 2007).

Crimea today stands as a peninsula, but in the Younger Dryas was linked to the mainland as the level of the Black Sea was 40–60 m lower than today (Shuisky, 2007). The Shan-Kobian is described as the dominant complex of the Final Palaeolithic from the Bølling to the Preboreal (Schild, 1966, Zaliznyak and Yanevich, 1987, Yanevich, 1999, Yanevich, 2009, Yanevich, 2010). Its lithic industry includes geometric microliths: triangles, trapezes and segments. Because of this typology, the Shan-Kobian could be related to other contemporaneous complexes with microlith industries, particularly the Romanellian-Azilian of Romania or the Imeretian of the northern Caucasus (Golovanova et al., 2012). Alternatively, it has been considered by some as a local evolution of an Epigravettian tradition (Yanevich, 2009). A small number of sites in Crimea have been attributed, based on lithic typology, to a different complex, the Swiderian (Yanevich, 1999). The Swiderian complex is part of the greater Tanged Point Complex which has its “classic” range in northeastern Europe in present-day Poland, Belarus, and northern Ukraine (basins of the Oder, Vistula, Nemen, upper Dnieper) (Kozlowski, 1999). The typical Swiderian lithic industry is characterized by blade reduction on boat-hull-shaped cores with two opposite platforms, and tools that include end-scrapers and burins made on blade supports. The Swidry points, fossiles directeurs of the Swiderian, are leaf-shaped points produced on blades, with a tang produced by flat ventral retouche (Fig. 1).

The presence of Swiderian sites in Crimea is generally associated with a southward movement of population, from northern Europe, at the beginning of the Younger Dryas (Schild, 1966, Zaliznyak and Yanevich, 1987, Yanevich, 1999; but see Cohen, 1996). The Swiderian lithic industry in Crimea is virtually identical to the northern Swiderian, apart from the presence of geometric microlithes and pressure cores, unknown in northern Europe, which have been described as the result of a local Shan-Kobian and Kukrek influence (Yanevich, 1999, Yanevich, 2010).

Overall, very little is known about faunal remains and human subsistence in the Late Glacial and early Holocene of Crimea. The sites of Shan-Koba (Shan-Kobian) and Siuren 2 (Swiderian) (Fig. 2) were studied by Baryshnikov et al. (1994), who produce skeletal part profiles for the saiga antelope and mention the presence of other species of ungulates. Faunal lists are also available for a few other sites, including Zamil-Koba, Murzak-Koba, and Fatma-Koba (Vekilova, 1971). Species mentioned for these 3 sites are listed in Table 1.

This article focuses on the faunal remains from the site of Buran-Kaya III Layer 4. We present the results of zooarchaeological analyses conducted on this faunal assemblage, provide interpretations regarding human subsistence in Crimea at the Pleistocene–Holocene transition, as well as suggestions for future research.

Section snippets

Site background

Buran-Kaya III (Б↠⤳ан-Кая) is a rock shelter located in a limestone massif along the Burulcha river, in the Bilohirsk/Belogorsk (Білогі⤳≿ьк/Белого⤳≿к) district of Crimea, south of Ukraine (45°00′11″ N, 34°24′16″ E). It was discovered in 1990 nearby the previously known sites of Buran-Kaya I, II, and Kilse-Koba (Monigal, 2004). Excavations were conducted at Buran-Kaya III in 1990, 1994, from 1996 to 1998, in 2001, and from 2009 to 2011. The stratigraphic filling of the site is composed of a

Materials and methods

Although faunal materials from layer 4 were collected from the entire surface excavated, we chose to restrict further analyses to rows Z, A, and Б (Fig. 3) for 3 reasons:

  • 1.

    there were strong suspicions of stratigraphic perturbation in rows B and Γ (Yanevich, pers. com. 2011);

  • 2.

    by comparing the collections available at the Insitute of Archaeology with the field notes from the excavations, we estimated that about 50% of the faunal material from rows B and Γ was lost since 1996;

  • 3.

    based on preliminary

Taxonomy

Eight species were identified in an assemblage dominated by saiga antelope, followed by red fox, horse and hare (Table 3). The total number of identified specimens ranges from 197 (4.9% of the total number of specimens) to 1022 (25.3%) whether it is counted on elements identified to species of size class. For comparison, this rate of identification is about 3 times higher than for the Gravettian layers (5–2, 6–1, 6–2) of the site (Crépin et al., 2014).

Identification of equid remains was

Discussion: regional perspectives on saiga antelope hunting

Saiga antelope are currently critically endangered and restricted to a range encompassing southwestern Russia, Kazakhstan, and Mongolia. During the late Upper Pleistocene, their range extended as far west to Iberia and as far east to Alaska (Guthrie et al., 2001), and it is a common taxon of the Palaeolithic zooarchaeological record of Crimea (Baryshnikov et al., 1994, Péan et al., 2013) until its extinction, which probably occurred during the Early Holocene (Benecke, 1997). Saiga antelope

Acknowledgments

This research was part of one of the authors (FBL) master's thesis conducted at the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle in Paris, France. Funding for this research was provided by a graduate student fellowship from the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle and through a research project directed by S. Péan and M. Patou-Mathis within the program ATM “Relations sociétés-nature dans le long terme” (directed by D. Couvet, D. Bergandi, and M. Patou-Mathis) of the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle.

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