From mammoth to fox: identification of Eliseevichi 1 within the occupations of the Desna valley

Abstract

The paper examines the faunal record in the Desna valley (Russia, Ukraine), a tributary of the Dnieper, during the end of the second part of the Upper Pleniglacial (20 000-14 000 BP). We carried a zooarchaeological study of the large mammal remains from Eliseevichi 1 excavated in 1935-36 by K.M. Polikarpovich (1968). Our aim is to compare the results of this analysis with other sites of the area during this period: Timonovka 1 and 2, Suponevo, Bugorok, Buzhenka 2, Chulatovo 1 and 2, and Mezin (Figure 1). The end of the second part of the Upper Pleniglacial is marked by alternating cold periods (Pomerania-Vepsovo and Oldest Dryas) with moraines and periods of warming (organogenic deposits) (a little warming period before Oldest Dryas and the Bølling-Allerød oscillation) (Haesaerts et al., 2003). Deglaciation took place under very continental conditions with mild summers and cold winters. The wettest periods alternating with progressive levels of warming caused a shrinkage phenomenon of the front of the ice sheet, releasing new territories. Around 13,000 BP, gradually, the forest cover developed, and large herds disappeared. It is interesting to know what happened just before this important climatic change. During this period the late Epigravettian culture was present in the Dnieper basin. On the one hand two facies were described, the Mezinian and Eliseevichian (Djindjian et al., 1999). The Mezinian (Mezin, Mezhirich, Dobranichevka, Gontsy) concerns the lower basin of the Desna where sites are characterized by dwellings structures in mammoth bones and pits. The industry is homogenous, quite simple, tools are made on blades, composed of burins, scrapers, and backed bladelets. Objects in bone and ivory are numerous (points, needles, bâtons percés, awls). Portable art and ornaments are known such as schematic anthropomorphic statuettes, pendants, bracelets, with many engraved geometric patterns. The Eliseevichian (Eliseevichi, Yudinovo, Timonovka, Suponevo, Chulatovo) is quite similar, but it is characterized by the predominance of burins, and particular artistic pieces such as churingas, and more realistic female statuettes. On the other hand, it is one culture, the Eastern Epigravettian characterized by four local versions, Mezinian, Ovruchian, Mezhirichian and Yudinovian). Two single series coexist with this culture: Eliseevichi 1 and Zhuravka (Nuzhnyi, 2006). So the present contribution concentrates on patterns of faunal diversity and on human activities. MatErIal anD MEthoDs We studied the faunal material discovered by K.M. Polikarpovich from Eliseevichi 1 in 1935-36, curated in Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera) and in the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy in Saint-Petersburg (Russia) (Demay et al., in prep.) (Figure 3). Concerning zooarchaeological methods, we used quantitative units after Poplin (1976) and Lyman (2008): NR: number of remains. NRt: total number of remains MNE: minimum number of elements cMNI: Minimum Number of Individuals by combination of parameters...

Collagen stable isotopes provide insights into the end of the mammoth steppe in the central East European plains during the Epigravettian

“…Remains of several pits with mammoth skulls and large quantities of worked ivory were discovered here. The faunal assemblage is dominated by remains of arctic fox, mammoth and large canids (Demay et al, 2017). Eliseevichi is also famous for the discovery of two complete skulls of Paleolithic dogs (Sablin and Khlopachev, 2002, 2003).…”

The status of canids in the economy of the Epigravettian groups of the Desna valley

“…In particular, we focus on the main sites of the Desna valley, an affluent of the Dnieper river ( Fig. 1): yudinovo, Chulatovo I and II, mezin, Timonovka 1 and 2, Suponevo, eliseevichi 1 [velichko 1961;Shovkoplias 1965;Polikarpovitch 1968;Pidoplichko 1969;Soffer 1985;Khlopachev 2006;Nuzhnyi 2006;Sablin 2014;Demay et al 2016;Demay et al 2017;Demay et al 2019].…”