This project started in mid June
2004 and aims to run for 28 months until mid September 2006. Our first field
season took place in July 2004 and involved the sampling of 11 mainly Middle
Palaeolithic localities – caves, rock shelters and open sites – that are either
actively under excavation, or have been excavated and where preserved sections
are available that can be readily prepared. Geographically, our first field
season has centred on four regions in Russia, the northern Caucasus, the Black
Sea coast near Sochi, and the middle reaches of the Severski-Donets and the
Don River basins. So far, the sampled sites have included Monasheskaya, Gubskiy
N1, Barakaevskaya (N Caucasus), Navalishenskaya, Malaya Vorontsovskaya, Akhshtyr,
Kepshinskaya (Black Sea coast), Biriuchya Balka 1a and 2, Kalitvenka 1 and 1v
(Severski-Donets basin), and Kostienki 12 and 14 (Don basin). In August 2004
more fieldwork took place in the Ukraine where the focus of attention centred
on 4 Crimean Middle Palaeolithic sites: Kabazi II, Kabazi V, Sary-Kaya and Karabai.
In June 2005 we obtained 80 kg of samples from the North Ossetian cave of Myshtulagaty
Lagat. Altogether field sampling has proved to be very productive and the emphasis
of the project has moved on to processing the material that was sampled.
By summer 2005 OSL profiling had been completed on 6 sites, Kabazi II and V,
Monasheskaya, Akhshtyr, Kostienki 14 and Biriuchya Balka 2. Granulometry and
magnetic susceptibility is ongoing at Kabazi II. The limited 14C dating that
is associated with this project has been completed. The quantity of sampled
material means prioritisation has been necessary and our aim is to include at
least one site from each of the 6 geographical regions.
This work is being undertaken in collaboration with the National Academy of
Sciences of the Ukraine (Crimean Branch), the Institute for the History of Material
Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences (St Petersburg), North Ossetia State
University (Vladikavkaz), the Institut für Ur- & Frühgeschichte (Köln), and
Max-Planck-Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig.
Monesheskaya Cave |
Biriuchya Balka |
