Wooly mammoth mass accumulation next to the Paleolithic Yana RHS site, Arctic Siberia: its geology, age, and relation to past human activity

Basilyan, A. E.; Анисимов, М. А.; Nikolskiy, Pavel A.; Pitulko, Vladimir V.

doi:10.1016/j.jas.2011.05.017

Cited by 46 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…For mammoth bone accumulations definite evidence of mammoth kills by humans remain surprisingly scarce and the hunting strategies that may have been used remain unclear (Lister & Bahn, ) while claims on mammoth hunting made by scholars for different sites are normally based on indirect evidence and/or simple logic and experiments (see, e.g., Frison & Todd, ; Germonpré et al., ; Brugère et al., ; Svoboda et al., ; Bosch, ). At the same time, in Siberia, the Yana RHS site provides well‐founded evidence for constant mammoth hunting (Nikolskiy & Pitulko, ), which resulted in an anthropogenic contribution to the formation of the mass accumulation of mammoth bones that constitutes part of the spatial structure of the site (Basilyan et al., ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Berelekh Mammoth “Graveyard”: New Chronological and Stratigraphical Data from the 2009 Field Season

2014

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To clarify unanswered questions of site formation, geology and the archaeology of the Berelekh geoarchaeological complex, a special survey was undertaken in 2009 of the area surrounding the site. Several geological units have been revealed. By establishing the spatial and temporal relationship of these deposits—as well as their age—we have reconstructed the formation history of the Berelekh bone bed. The mammoth bone deposit belongs to a paleochannel. Radiocarbon dating of mammoth remains at Berelekh demonstrates rapid accumulation during the Bølling warming. Human involvement in its formation is, at best, questionable, since there is no real overlap between the radiocarbon dates associated with past human activity, and those of the mammoth bone bed. This study confirms that humans used mammoth bone remains after the bone bed was deposited. Culturally, the Berelekh “site” does not have any relationship to the so‐called “Dyuktai culture.” Instead, the Berelekh archaeological finds (side notched stone pendants) show certain similarities to non‐microblade terminal Pleistocene assemblages found from Yenisei to Kamchatka. Additionally, the Berelekh complex presents a clear analogy with lithics found in Eastern Beringia. Teardrop‐shaped incomplete bifaces found in the assemblage are comparable to the Chindadn points of Alaska. The nature of this “Chindadn connection” is intriguing but it is the only visible cultural link between Western and Eastern Beringia.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Berelekh Mammoth “Graveyard”: New Chronological and Stratigraphical Data from the 2009 Field Season

2014

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“…The Yana locality contains seven loci, including an accumulation of mammoth bones and nearby human occupation sites. The bones of mammoths and other mammals are mostly dated to 28,000–27,000 14 C yr BP (32,000–31,000 cal yr BP) (Basilyan et al, 2011; Nikolskiy and Pitulko, 2013, table 1), chronologically placing them in MIS 3 when climates were unstable and rapidly fluctuating. According to Nikolskiy and Pitulko (2013), 69% of the mammoth individuals in the archaeological locus are “subadult” (<15–18 yr?…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A comparative study of woolly mammoths from the Gravettian site Kraków Spadzista (Poland), based on estimated shoulder heights, demography, and life conditions

2018

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This article interprets the life conditions of woolly mammoths (Mammuthus primigenius) from the Upper Paleolithic archaeological site Kraków Spadzista in Poland. We propose that the mammoths’ irregular mortality profile (also known as age profile) was shaped over several decades by major death events, which serially depleted the youngest cohorts. Taphonomic data and comparisons with other Eurasian archaeological and nonarchaeological sites provide context for hypothesizing that the mammoth-bone assemblage was accumulated at least partly through opportunistic human hunting of the most vulnerable animals in mixed herds. Humans exploited heightened mammoth vulnerability during climatic stress periods, killing and butchering most of the animals, although some mammoths in the assemblage may have died from natural causes. The evidence for environmental stress affecting the mammoths includes paleoecological data about local climatic conditions, the abundant signs of mammoth-bone abnormalities in the assemblage, the relatively smaller size of adult female mammoths compared with those from the similarly dated archaeological site Milovice I (Czech Republic), and the unusually high proportion of juvenile mammoths in the assemblage.

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“…In Eliseevichi 1 we know it is not sub-fossile ivory. It is possible that the fresh heads with tusks or collected on recent carcasses, have been put into pits used for natural maceration of the connective tissue in the tusk alveoli (Basilyan et al, 2011;Pitulko et al, 2015). Then ivory was recovered to be worked later.…”

Section: Functional Interpretation Of Eliseevichimentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Demay¹,

Patou‐Mathis²,

Péan³

et al. 2017

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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...

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Wooly mammoth mass accumulation next to the Paleolithic Yana RHS site, Arctic Siberia: its geology, age, and relation to past human activity

Cited by 46 publications

References 13 publications

The Berelekh Mammoth “Graveyard”: New Chronological and Stratigraphical Data from the 2009 Field Season

The Berelekh Mammoth “Graveyard”: New Chronological and Stratigraphical Data from the 2009 Field Season

A comparative study of woolly mammoths from the Gravettian site Kraków Spadzista (Poland), based on estimated shoulder heights, demography, and life conditions

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

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