Search

As of today, very few Upper Paleolithic sites are known on both the southern and the northern slopes of the Caucasus. Their materials allow tracing settlement dynamics in the region from 40/39 to 20 cal ka BP. The change of the research methodology, which today is focused on thorough excavations involving a range of natural science disciplines for complex investigation of the materials, including complete water sieving of the cultural deposits, enables obtaining many new, often unique data on human occupation, life-support strategies, and adaptations of humans in different periods of the Upper Paleolithic in the Caucasus. In our paper, a wide range of issues is discussed, concerned with the cultural affinity, diversity, and interaction of the Upper Paleolithic population of the Caucasus. The earliest Upper Paleolithic industries (40–35 cal ka BP) of the southern as well as the northern slopes of the Caucasus show the closest affinity. Studies of the raw-material strategies indicate the presence of contacts between populations of the northwestern and South Caucasus throughout the entire Upper Paleolithic and the development of extensive social networks. During the Late Upper Paleolithic period, the materials of the North and South Caucasus acquire certain features of distinctiveness, as in the stone industry and in bone tools and decorations. The appearance of geometric microliths in the South Caucasus contemporaneously with the Near East attests to the contacts between these regions. The delivery of seashells from the Caspian Sea coast to the Lesser Caucasus also indicates the southeastern direction of the contacts. The import of seashells from the Black Sea coast to the northwestern Caucasus indicates the southwestern direction of contacts. The unique finds that have analogies in the Upper Paleolithic of the Russian Plain indicate contacts between populations of the northwestern Caucasus and the Russian Plain that belong to different cultural areas. The current data demonstrate formation of local differences in the culture of the Upper Paleolithic populations in both the South and the North Caucasus, including under the influence of the neighboring regions.

Mezmaiskaya Cave has yielded more than 10,000 artefacts, thousands of very well preserved faunal remains, and hominid remains, found in eight Middle Paleolithic (Mousterian) and three Upper Paleolithic levels comprising silty sands with eboulis. A post-cranial Neanderthal infant skeleton was preserved in anatomical juxtaposition lying on a large limestone block, overlain by the earliest Mousterian layer, Layer 3. No burial pit was observed. Twenty-four skull fragments showing post-mortem deformation from a 1-2 year-old infant occurred in a pit originating in the Mousterian Layer 2 and penetrating into underlying layers. The Middle Paleolithic industries have high sidescraper, but variable bifacial tool, percentages. Some bone tools were found in Layer 3. Excepting Ursus spelaeus, some bird, rodent, and carnivore remains, the majority of the bovids, cervids, caprids, and other ungulates represent human kills hunted by selecting prime adults. Bone from Layer 2A was dated by AMS [sup.14]C at 35.8-36.3 [+ or -] 0.5 kyr BP. Twelve ungulate teeth from Layers 2 to 3 have been dated by standard and isochron ESR. Low U concentrations in both the enamel and dentine ensure that ESR ages do not depend significantly on the U uptake model, but do depend strongly on the sedimentary dose rates and water concentrations. Sedimentary dose rates range from 500 to 800 [+ or -] 100 mGy/yr, depending mainly on the eboulis concentrations in each layer. Assuming a sedimentary water concentration equals 20 wt% (the modern concentration), preliminary ESR ages for the layers range from 38.2 to 42.0 [+ or -] 0.5 ka for the Mousterian layers.

Reports the evidence of facts about life and death of Neanderthals at Mezmaiskaya Cave in Eastern Europe. Technological change during the Middle Paleolithic; Recovery of human remains from Mezmaiskaya Cave; Location of the cave.