Prolom II, a Middle Palaeolithic Cave Site in the Eastern Crimea with Non-Utilitarian Bone Artefacts

Abstract

The cave site Prolom II situated in the eastern part of the Crimean peninsula has produced evidence of repeated inhabitation during the Middle Palaeolithic. The stone artefacts permit a sure cultural identification and comparison with analogous material belonging to the Ak-Kaya culture. In a broader sense the Ak-Kaya culture of the Crimea may be regarded as one of the variants of the East European Micoquian. Unfortunately we do not at present have the natural science data which would allow us to define exactly the chronological position of Prolom II. The comparative typological and technical data allow us to connect the Middle Palaeolithic layers of the cave with the pre-Brörup period of the Early Würm. This is partly supported by the faunal data. The discovery of a curved arc-like deposit consisting of bones of mammoth, horse, bison and other animals in the second layer of the site, as well as a considerable collection of bone artefacts, both add to the unique character of the site. Some of the bone artefacts cannot reasonably be explained as utilitarian and may constitute evidence of a spiritual culture of Neanderthal Man. In this connection it is possible to enumerate two fragments of diaphyses with parallel and fan-shaped engraved lines, one distal fragment of Saiga tatarica first phalange with fan-shaped engraved lines, and one horse canine with deep subparallel engravings.

The Significance of the Earliest Beads

“…The Micoquian has yielded an artificially perforated wolf metapodium as well as a wolf vertebra from the Bocksteinschmiede, Germany (Marshack, 1991). The Micoquian of Prolom 2, Crimea, produced no less than 111 perforated animal phalanges, besides four engraved paleoart objects (Stepanchuk, 1993). Although there is no proof that the phalanges were perforated by human hand, the fact that they are all of one species, Saiga tatarica, and that no perforated bones of other species were found in the cave, suggests that these may also be anthropic perforations.…”

Los útiles óseos “poco elaborados” en el Paleolítico inferior y medio y su continuidad en el Paleolítico superior. Una revisión historiográfica

“…En la Europa centro-oriental, se citan retocadores de hueso en Prolom II (Stephanchuk 1993) y Kabazi V (Patou-Mathis 2007) en Crimea, Barakaevskaia, en el Cáucaso (Filipov y Lioubine 1993) y Vindija en Croacia (Ahern et al 2004). La zona mediterránea queda representada por Fumane (Jéquier et al 2012), Tagliente y San Bernardino (Malerba y Giacobini 1996) en Italia, Arrillor musteriense.…”

Pleistocene Paleoart of Europe

“…Among them is a collection of 111 perforated phalanges of the saiga antelope (Saiga tatarica) from Prolom 2 in the Crimean peninsula. Although no proof has been provided that the modifications are anthropogenic, the sheer number of specimens seems to exclude a natural explanation (Stepanchuk 1993) [158]. The site has also provided the perforated ear bone of a cave bear (Ursus spelaeus) (Marshack 1991) [124], besides three engraved objects.…”

“…The third bears eight parallel lines, made very deliberately by repeated tool applications. Also of the Micoquian are three engraved items found in Prolom 2 Cave, Crimean peninsula, featuring sets of convergent lines (Stepanchuk 1993; [158,21]. One is a modified first phalanx of Saiga tatarica bearing seven lines, another a triangularly shaped bone splinter bearing two lines, while the third is a horse canine decorated with four deep grooves.…”