Introduction. The paper deals with the issue of pressure blademaking emergence chronology in the North-Western Caucasus. The possible paths of the innovation diffusion are discussed. Materials and methods. The study of the lithic technology is based on the materials from the Early Holocene layers of the Dvoinaya Cave and the Chygai Rockshelter. The series of AMS dates were obtained for the layers. The earliest use of pressure blademaking was revealed in the layer 4/5 of the Dvoinaya Cave and the layers 3-5 of the Chygai Rockshelter dated to 11,3–8,5 cal kyr BC and 11,1–8,5 cal kyr BC respectively. Results. The full technological context of the bladelet and microbladelet production with the use of pressure was revealed at the Dvoinaya Cave. The blanks were produced from the conical cores with faceted platforms. In layers 3–5 of the Chygai Rockselter the pressure bladelets and microbladelets were discovered. In both cases the metrics of the pressure produced blanks indicate the use of Mode 3 of the pressure technique (pressure with the use of short crutch in a sitting position). Discussion. We don’t consider possible the diffusion of the technique from the Elbrus region of the North Caucasus as there were two technologically distinct traditions that were partly synchronous. The lower chronological range of the Mode 3 pressure emergence in the North-Western Caucasus roughly coincides with the Early Mlefaatian and the Nemrikian in the south and the Early Butovo in the north. The possible intermediate industries dated to the Early Holocene have not been discovered so far in the neighboring regions to the south or to the north of the North-Western Caucasus. Conclusion. The early timе of the complex mode of the pressure technique emergence in the North-Western Caucasus is indicative of the external adoption and an extremely fast pace of the innovation diffusion in the Early Holocene.

The paper presents the evidence of flint knapping by people with different skill levels at the Eastern Gravettian site of Zaraysk B on the Russian Plain. The basic methodological approach used in this study is the analysis of “deviations from the technological norm”. In addition, the results are verified via more traditional methods of spatial and technological analysis of the refit sets. The analysis of the totality of cores and core preforms leads to the conclusion that flint knapping was carried out by both expert craftsmen and novices, as well as intermediate-level knappers. All core preforms and most cores in the collection appear to have been the result of knapping by craftsmen with a low or intermediate level of knapping skills.

Статья посвящена публикации антропоморфной статуэтки из раскопок 2020 г., проводившихся на участке пункта В стоянки Хотылёво 2. Дается типологическая, технологическая и стилистическая характеристика предмета, описан ее археологический контекст. В результате сделан вывод, что данное изделие изображает мужскую фигуру и может быть отнесено к категории острий с антропоморфными навершиями. Стилистически эта фигурка аналогична мужской фигурке из раскопа 7 пункта А Хотылёво 2. Археологический контекст публикуемой статуэтки типичен для Хотылёво 2 и связан с периферией комплекса объектов, характеризующихся расположением по окружности или овалу неглубоких ям вкопанных костей мамонта и групп преднамеренно уложенных плоских костей мамонта в сочетании со вкопанными черепами. Находка 2020 г. дает основание для выделения особого типа восточнограветтийских скульптурных изображений, дополняющих характеристику специфики материальной культуры Хотылёвской стоянки. The paper publishes an anthropomorphic figurine from the excavations of an area of location C at Khotylevo 2 site conducted in 2020. It provides typological, technological and stylistical characteristics of the item and describes its archaeological context. The authors conclude that this item features a male figure and can be categorized as a point with an anthropomorphic end-piece. Stylistically, this figurine is analogous to the male figurine from excavation pit 7 of location A at Khotylevo 2. The archaeological context of the published figurine is typical for Khotylevo 2. It is linked to the periphery of an assemblage of items found along the circle or the oval of shallow pits, mammoth bones and groups of flat mammoth bones sunk intentionally into soil together with the skulls. The find of 2020 provides a ground for singling out a special type of Eastern Gravettian figurines that complement characteristics of the Khotylevo material culture

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The article is devoted to the results of archaeological excavations carried out on the Sungir in 2014-2015. The main purpose of these works was to obtain new data on the spatial structure of the cultural layer of the Sungir site. The relevance of these studies is caused by still unsolved question of whether Sungir can be considered as a site with a complex archaeological stratigraphy or the features of its spatial structure are only the result of natural postdepositional processes. Descriptions and characteristics of the stratigraphy of sediments, the spatial organization of the cultural layer, the species’ attribution and taphonomy of the faunal collection, the typology and technology of the stone industry, as well as new radiocarbon dating are given. It is noted that the excavations of 2015 were conducted on the peripheral part of the accumulations which were opened in the excavation unit III by O.N. Bader. Most of the animal bones found during excavations can be considered as belonging to species that the settlers hunted. The analysis of the stone inventory allowed us to identify the following production chains of manufacture: the production of large flakes, the production of blades, and the production of thin bifaces. The data obtained during the typological and technological study of blades and bladelets make it possible to suggest the existence of the fundamental differences between the Sungir industry and the industries of the Aurignacian technocomplex. Predominance of large flakes in the Sungir stone industry, as well as the characteristic techniques in bifaces production, which were recorded in the collection, allow us to consider so-called Streletskian culture as a more reasonable analogy to it. The stratigraphic position both of artifacts and accumulations of archaeological material, as well as the spatial context of the dated bone samples from reconnaissance trench No. 4 (2014), support the conclusion that the cultural layer of the Sungir site was formed in several stages. The results of archaeological work carried out on Sungir in 2014–2015 indicate the real perspectives for its further study. One of the urgent tasks facing the researchers of this outstanding site is the reconstruction of the spatial structure, including its archaeological stratigraphy.