No abstract

The palaeoenvironmental reconstructions in this paper are based on results of grain-size and pollen analyses. Lithological characteristics of deposits of the Pryluky and Tyasmyn stages in the section of the Tovtry Cave (the Middle Dniester Basin) are presented, as well as pollen data from the corresponding deposits. On the basis of pollen succession of the last interglacial in the underlying beds, the pollen data, presented in the section studied, are related to the 1st stadial and the 1st interstadial of the early glacial (the Tyasmyn and the early Pryluky stages). The results of pollen and lithological methods in their palaeogeographical implication correspond well. The data obtained enables the reconstruction of vegetational and climatic changes in the Middle Dniester Area during the Tyasmyn and early Pryluky times when the Middle Palaeolithic population occupied intensely the Dniester valley but also exploited the resources on plateau. The absence of pollen of broad-leaved trees and the appearance of palynomorphs of cryophytes indicate a subperiglacial climate of the Tyasmyn stage. The spread of mixed forest with broad-leaved trees in its composition during the early Pryluky times proves that the climate of this warm interstadials was south-boreal, slightly cooler than the modern one. Two phases of the early Pryluky interstadial (pl1b1 and pl1b2) were separated by the phase of slight cooling and aridification that demonstrates short-period climatic changes. In order to reconstruct reliably palaeoenvironments of the Paleolithic population in the Middle Dniester area, the multidisciplinary approach should be implemented (particularly, the modern geochronological methodologies) and the new study objects, including the cave traps of paleontological and archaeological remains, have to be investigated.

New approaches developed within the complex palaeogeographic methodology of cave deposits studies for reconstruction of the past ecological conditions are presented in the paper. The relevance and reliability of results of such studies are shown on the cases from the previous research of cave systems in Ukraine. The methodology based of palynological and lithological (including grain-size analysis) study of terrigenous cave deposits is proposed, and the advantages of their complex application within the multidisciplinary palaeoenvironmental study are proved. The reliability of palaeovegetational reconstructions based on pollen studies of clastic cave deposits is confirmed by the compatibility of their results with those obtained from coeval subaerial deposits. The same patterns were shown by a comparison of pollen from hyaena coprolites in the cave and their enclosing sediments. It has been found that the content of redeposited pollen in the clastic sediments of caves depends on their particle size distribution, sharply increasing in sandy deposits. The grain-size composition of cave deposits also provides information on the genesis of deposits and, thus, indirectly, on paleoenvironmental conditions. Changes in clay, large silt and sand fractions are of main importance for the interpretation of the results. A direct correlation of paleoclimatic signals obtained by the results of pollen and lithological analyses with the indicators of magnetic susceptibility has been established. The use of these paleogeographic methods for studying cave deposits, namely pollen analyses, lithological (in particular, grain-size), palaeontological, petromagnetic, palaeogenetic, radiocarbon and paleomagnetic methods, will be able to control the reliability of the reconstruction by collate them. Multidisciplinary study of the cave deposits has a great potential for reconstructions of the ancient Man environments as deposits of many caves include archaeological horizons of different material cultures from the Early Palaeolithic to the Early Iron Age.