Encyclopedia of Prehistory, Volume 4, Europe

ABSOLUTE TIME PERIOD: 11,000-6500 B.P.

RELATIVE TIME PERIOD: Follows the Cyesar Paleolithic and precedes many of the Neolithic traditions in Central and Eastern Europe.

LOCATION: Approximately from the Carpathian Mountains to the Ural Mountains and from the Arctic Ocean to the Black Sea. This takes in contemporary European Russia, and Ukraine.

DIAGNOSTIC MATERIAL ATTRIBUTES: The technique of chip-

ping knife-shaped blades, including microblades, was highly developed. Microblades had a variety of geometric shapes, such as segmented, trapezoidal, rectangular, and parallelogram forms. Microburins were used for producing microliths. Wood-working tools were widely used and included axes, adzes, chisels, and macrolithic specialized tools, such as mattocks, picks, and hoes. Polishing of stone tools, drilling, and sawing were also employed. Bone and antler tools were harpoons, arrows, darts, daggers, knives, spears, axes, adzes, and sockets for them.

REGIONAL SUBTRADITIONS: Central and Northeast Northern Russia, Karelia, Kola Peninsula, Ukraine.

IMPORTANT SITES: Beloles'e, Andozero-M, Ankievaya Gora, Chernaya Guba, Fa'tma Koba, Girzhevo, Igren'

8, Korabel'naya Ruche', Kukrek, Miromskoe VIII, Mospino, Murzak Koba, Narodich, Nenasytets, Nizhneye Veretye I, Nobel', Oleneostrovski' Mogil'nik, Osokorovka, Pegrema VIII, Popova, Povenetskaya II, Povenetskaya III, Shan Koba, Shuoni'oki II, Syamozerski' II Mogil'nik, Syuren'2, Nizhnee Vert'e I, Vasil'evka I, Vasil'evka III, and Voloshskoe.

CULTURAL SUMMARY

Environment

92Eastern European Mesolithic

Topography. The Eastern Europe Mesolithic region was situated throughout Russia, and Ukraine. Nearly all habitation sites and cemeteries were on lakes or rivers.

Geology. The Eastern Europe Mesolithic region is situated on nearly horizontal strata that overlay the East European Platform, which is composed of PreCambrian metamorphic and igneous rocks. Outcroppings of the Pre-Cambrian structures occur in Karelia and Ukraine. Much of the land form of today is due to major Pleistocene glacial events that involved advance and recession of ice sheets from Scandinavia, Northern Karelia, and Novaya Zemlya.

Biota. The Eastern European Mesolithic region biota was characterized by transition. During the Pre-Boreal Period, forests that were dominant during the Polovetsian warming were crowded by the growth of glacialtype grass-shrubs during the Pereslav' cooling. The Boreal Period that followed was a time of zonal (tundra, forest, and steppe) vegetation. The tundra zone occupied a narrow strip along the Kola and Yugorskiy Peninsulas in Northern Russia. The forest zone took up much the same area as it does today; that is, from the tundra zone to approximately 55° N latitude. Birch and pine were the predominant trees, with birch forests extending from Northwestern Europe into the southern Ural mountains. During this time coniferous broadleaf forests appeared in the west and southwest of the region. Steppe vegetation occurred south of the forest steppe (about 55° N latitude). Xerophytic steppe and semidesert steppe formations were widespread south of 52°-48°. The Atlantic period was characterized by the expansion of the forest zone to the north and south. Thermophilous taxa were widespread in the forests. Broadleaf forests expanded, and the tundra zone nearly completely disappeared.

Settlements

Settlement System. Eastern European Mesolithic region settlements were mainly temporary campsites, as were most of the dwellings.

Community Organization. Eastern European Mesolithic sites were often located with immediate access to a major body of water, such as a lake or river.

Housing. Eastern European Mesolithic dwellings varied. Many were tent-like structures or huts. Semisubterranean dwellings occurred in the northern part of the region.

Population, Health, and Disease. The Eastern European Mesolithic population increased as the early postglacial terrain of discontinuous permafrost and deep seasonal freezing supported forests and later steppe lands. In Ukraine Dnieper cemeteries, the average age of death for adult males was 40.9 years, and for adult females, 39.5 years. About 24 percent died before the age of 18, bringing the overall age of death to 23 years. Approximately 10 percent of adult males died a violent death.

Economy

Subsistence. Eastern European Mesolithic subsistence was based on hunting, fishing, and gathering.

Industrial Arts. Eastern European Mesolithic technology was based on flaking and polishing stone and bone into tools.

Utensils. No ceramic materials were found in Eastern European Mesolithic tradition sites. Chipped stone and bone tools, usually made from locally available raw material, were the primary utensils.

Ornaments. Ornaments were rare. Pendants made from drilled animal teeth were the most common ornament. These were found only in the Karelian and Central and Northeast Northern Russia subtraditions.

Division of labor. Workshops were found in only a few sites. Whether their presence is indicative of specialized craftsmen or division of labor is unclear because of their small numbers.

Sociopolitical Organization

Social Organization. Eastern European Mesolithic social organization seems to have been simple. Social units were probably likely based on families or clans.

Conflict. Individuals with evidence of violent death in Dnieper River rapids cemeteries suggest that the population engaged in violent conflict. The numerous arrow points in Karelia and projectile points and spears in Central and Northeast Russia suggest that conflict could have also existed throughout the Eastern European Mesolithic Tradition region.

Religion and Expressive Culture

Arts. Eastern European Mesolithic artwork was mostly mobile. Decorations were schematic (geometric patterns), anthropomorphic, or zoomorphic incised designs or carvings on bone.

Death and Afterlife. Death rituals were labor intensive. Most of the cemeteries that have been found were located apart from habitation areas. Burials contained red ocher; many had grave goods. These features indicate that the living prepared and carried the deceased to an area dedicated to the dead. There the living covered the deceased with red ocher and provided the individual with items indicative of themselves and the dead.

Suggested Readings

Brown, A. Kaser, M. and Smith, G. eds. (1994). The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Russia and the Former Soviet Union. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Filatova, V. F. (1996). "Mezolit." In Arkheologiya Karelii, ed. M. G. Kosmenko, and S. I. Kochkurkina. Petrozavodsk: Karel'ski' Nauchny' Tsentr Rossi'skaya Akademiya Nauk, 179-200.

Gokhman, I. I. (1966). Naselenie Ukrainy v Epokhu Mezolita i Neolita.

Moscow: Nauka.

Haeussler, A. M. (1996). The Dental Anthropology of Russia, Ukraine, Georgia: Evaluation of Five Hypotheses for Paleo-Indian Origins.

Ann Arbor: UMI Dissertation Information Services. Koltsov, L. V., ed. (1989). Mezolit SSSR. Moscow: Nauka.

Konduktorova, T. S. (1974). The Ancient Population of the Ukraine.

Brno: Anthropologie XIIjl,2.

Pankrushev, G. A. (1978). Mezolit i Neolit Karelia. Leningrad: Nauka. Sulimirski, T. (1970). Prehistoric Russia. New York: Humanities Press. Te1egin, D. Ya. (1982). Mezolitichni Pamyatki Ukraini. Kiev: Naukova

Dumka.

Velichko, A. A. (1984). Late Quaternary Environments of the Soviet Union. Minneapolis: University of Wisconsin Press.

SUBTRADITIONS

Central and Northeast Northern

Russia

TIME PERIOD: Mesolithic 10,000-6000 B.P. (Dolukhanov

and Khotinskiy, 1984: 319).

LOCATION: Northern Russia east of Lake Onega, west of the Ural mountains, South of the White Sea, and north of and including the Sukhona River Basin. This takes in the western portion of the Karelian Republic; Archangel'sk Oblast including the Nenets Autonomous Okrug; the Komi Republic; and Vologda Oblast, Russia (Oshibkina 1989: 32-44).

Eastern European Mesolithic 93

Four geocultural types make up the Central and Northeast Northern Russia Subtradition. These are the eastern Lake Onega region Veretye type and similar sites, the Sukhona River Basin Culture type, the Northern Dvina and Vychegda Basin type, and the Pechora River Basin type (Oshibkina 1989: 41-45 passim). The diagnostic material attributes of the Veretye type are the presence of a peat bog, wooden structures, birch and wooden ornaments including those with incised patterns and anthropomorphic figures, and stone (scrapers, side scrapers, knives, puncturers, drills, burins, projectile points, axes), bone (harpoons, knives, daggers, planes, needles), and wooden tools (bows, darts, arrows, floats, and sinkers) (Matyushin 1995: 168; Oshibkina 1989: 34-37). Diagnostic features of sites similar to the Veretye type are the shallow position of the graves and all of the artifacts found in Burial VII and the nearby pits at Popova (a small slate hatchet, flint chips, a primitive bone knife, and a primitive point) and features of axes whose butts were formed by an oblique spall at Andozero-M (Oshibkina 1983: 185, 1989: 3738). Diagnostic features of the Sukhona Basin Culture type are small sites with cultural levels that were shallow in depth and small in area; and a stone tool assemblage that consisted of flint and quartz microblades, burins on the corners of small blades and on chips, small end scrapers on blades, small willowleaf-shaped tanged projectile points made from knife-shaped blades, small hatchets with a sharp butt end, made from flint chips straightened by spalls near the bulb of percussion with retouch along the working edge, but no sawing, drilling, or polished tools (Oshibkina 1989: 40). The diagnostic features of the Mesolithic Vychegda and Northern Dvina River sites are heterogeneity based on materials at two sites (Vis' and Yavron'ga) and four microlithic tool sites (Kur'yador, Pezmog I, U'yarnovo, and Kuz'vomyn) on the Vychegda River and two sites (Vondonga I and Filichaevskaya sites) on the Northern Dvina. For example, on the Vychegda River, the Vis site had peat, wood, and flint artifacts; ceramics; but no bone artifacts, hearths, or dwellings. In contrast, Yavron'ga had a hearth pit, lacked wooden artifacts and ceramics, but had more flint tools than did Vis. Moreover, the Vychegda microlithic tool sites varied from Vis and Yavron'ga in the presence of small tools and evidence of dwellings similar to tepees. Further evidence of heterogeneity occurs in the Northern Dvina River Basin Mesolithic sites, as typified by materials at Vondonga I and Filichaevskaya (I-IV). Vondonga I had large blades, small burins, rezchiki with grooves and edge retouch, and fragments of blades. However, the Filichaevskaya sites had evidence of a tepee, in addition

94Eastern European Mesolithic

to small tools that included conical and prismatic cores. Other tools, as typified by Filichaevskaya III, were scrapers, burins on the corner of blades, and projectile points (Oshibkina 1989: 41-43). The diagnostic artifacts of the Pechora River Basin are flint knife-shaped blades and tools made from them. These and additional artifacts are typified by the sites of Turunnyur on the Izhma River and Adakskaya and Adz'vinskaya in the Usa River Basin. They are an oval hearth and a stone tool assemblage, characterized by microlithization and consisting of light-colored and white knife-shaped blades and chips, and other stone tools such as points on a blade, projectile points from blades with divided tangs, end scrapers, and an adze at Turunnyur (Oshibkina 1989: 44). Diagnostic artifacts of the Adakskaya and Adz'vinskaya sites are small flint chips, quartz chips, knife-shaped blades, burins, and planes.

CULTURAL SUMMARY

Environment

The Boreal Period (9000-8000 B.P.) was a time of ecological zonality in Central and northeastern Northern Russia. The northern portion that bordered the White Sea was tundra. South to approximately the Arctic Circle a was zone of birch forests. Dark coniferous northern taiga, dominated by spruce trees, covered the northeastern part of Russia between the birch forests to the north and a zone of dark coniferous middle taiga dominated by spruce trees to the south. South and southeast of the dark coniferous spruce taiga was birch forest with islands of pine forests. Thus, sites east of Lake Onega and Sukhona River Basin sites were situated in birch forest and the Dvina, Vyshegda, and Pechora River sites were in spruce taiga (Khotinskiy 1984: 192-193). Fauna, as generalized from bones at Nizhneye Veretye I and Popova, consisted of elk, reindeer, beaver, dog, occasionally bear; birds, especially swan; and fish (Oshibkina 1983: 181, 189, 1989: 38). In January the average temperature was -180 C, which is colder than today. In July the average temperature was between 14°-16°, which is also cooler than today (Savina and Khotinskiy 1984: 291-292).

Settlements

Central and Northeast Northern Russia Mesolithic sites were generally small and always located near a river or lake, which had meandered or altered in volume since

the Mesolithic Period. For example, the eastern Lake Onega region Veretye type sites of Nizhneye Veretye, Nizhneye Veretye I, and Sukhoe are near the east and southern banks of Lake Lacha; Pogostishche and Mys Vyazovy', near the western and southwestern shore of Lake Vozhe; Shu'skoe, Kanifol'ny', Limanskaya, Vologda, Dvorets Pionerov, Prilyki, and Shu'skoe, southwest and southeast of Rubinskoe Reservoir. The Veretye-like site of Popova is located on the Kinema River, which flows into Lake Lacha. Sukhona River Basin sites (Pes'edenga, Edenga, Edenga I, Kar'er, Krasnoe, Lyubavchikhskaya, Neklyudovskaya, Kolupaevskaya, Kolupaevskaya 2, and Tikhonovskaya) are all located near the Sukhona River midway between the city of Vologda and the juncture of the Sukhona and Northern Dvina Rivers. Vychegda (Vis' and Yavron'ga, Kur'yador, Pezmog I, U'yarnovo, and Kuz'vomyn) and Northern Dvina River Mesolithic sites (Vondonga I and Filichaevskaya) were situated on Vychegda and Northern Dvina Rivers, respectively. Pechora River Basin sites were situated on the Izhma River Basin (Turunnyur) and in the Usa River Basin (Adakskaya and Asz'vinskaya).

Dwellings or other indications of attempts at achieving human comfort were extremely rare. Nizhneye Veretye had evidence of dwellings, which were square or rectangular, 40 m2-50 m2 in area. They had probably been made from poles that had been covered by soft material, such as skins, and reinforced by stones. Each dwelling had one or two hearths, around which were concentrated animal bones, tools, and burnt wood. One dwelling had a sprinkling of light sand at the level of the floor. Small fragments of bones, flint spalls, and other small trash found under the floor indicate that the inhabitants may have occasionally returned to the dwelling, straightened it up, and sprinkled a base of clean sand (Oshibkina 1989: 34). Additional indications of shelter point to short-term occupation of the sites in which they were found. These are tepees at Vondonga I and the Filichaevskaya sites on the Northern Dvina River and hearth pits at Yavron'ga I in the Vychegda River region and Turunnyur in the Pechora River Basin (Oshibkina 1989: 42, 44). However, the Nizhneye Veretye I dwellings were not places of tool manufacture. Instead, stone tools were made outside the site along the River bank and in a workshop in the forest on the outskirts of the site (Oshibkina 1989: 34). The economy of the Central and Northeast Northern Russia was based on foraging, fishing, and hunting large and small animals (Matyushin 1995: 168; Oshibkina 1989: 34-37). Hunting was important as exemplified by Veretye-type sites, whereas fishing and gathering were

secondary seasonal actlVltles (Oshibkina 1989: 38). Evidence of some type of belief system occurred at Popova with its seven graves with red ocher, grave goods, and associated pits that may have been ritually significant (Oshibkina 1983: 179-187). Popova also had indications of artwork in the animal teeth pendants associated with the burials. Additional artfully made materials were a carved swan and the incised patterns on tools at Nizhneye Veretye I (Oshibkina 1985: 4lO, 1989: 37).

References

Dolukhanov, P. M., and N. A. Khotinskiy, (1984). "Human Cultures and the Natural Environment in the USSR during the Mesolithic and Neolithic." In Late Quaternary Environments in the Soviet Union, ed. A. A. Velichko. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 319-327.

Filatova, F. F. (1996). "Mezolit." In Arkheologiya Karelii, ed. M. Kosmenko and S. I. Kochkurina. Petrozavodsk: Znak Pocheta, 36--61.

Gurina, N. N. (1989). "Mezolit Karelii." In Mezolit SSSR, ed. L.V. Kol'tsov. Moscow: Nauka, 27-31.

Khotinskiy, N.A. (1984). "Holocena vegetation history." In Late Quaternary Environments of the Soviet Union. ed. A,A. Velkhko, Minn eapol. University of Minnesota Press, 179-200.

Matyushin, G. N. (1995). Arkheologicheski' Slovar'. Moscow: Uchebnaya Literatura.

Oshibkina S. V. (1983). Mezolit Basse'na Sukhony i Vostochnogo Prionezh'ya. Moscow: Nauka.

Oshibkina, S. V. (1989). "Mezolit Tsentral'nykh i Severo-vostochnykh Ra'nov Severa Evrope'ski' Chasti SSSR." In Mezolit SSSR, ed. L. V. Kol'tsov, Moscow: Nauka, 32-45.

Oshibkina, S. V. (1990). "The Material Culture of the Veretye-type Sites in the Region to the East of Lake Onega." In The Mesolithic in Central Europe, ed. C. Bonsall. Edinburgh: John Donaldson, 402413.

Savina, S. S. and N. A. Khotinskiy, (1984). "Holocene Paleoclimatic Reconstructions Based on the Zonal Method." In Late Quaternary Environments of the Soviet Union, ed. A. A. Velichko. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 287-296.

Telegin, D. Ya. (1982). Mezolitichhni Pam'yaki Ukraini (IX-VI Tisyacholittya). Kiev: Naukova Dumka.

Karelia

TIME PERIOD: lO,000-6,000 B.P. (Dolukhanov and Kho-

tinskiy, 1984: 319).

LOCATION: Northwestern Russia from the border of Finland on the west, the White Sea on the east, the Gulf of Kandalaksha on the north, and Lake Ladoga on the south; that is the land corresponding to the Republic of Karelia, St. Petersburg Oblast, Russia.

Eastern European Mesolithic 95

DIAGNOSTIC MATERIAL ATTRIBUTES: Evidence of initial

human adaptation to postglacial conditions, such as stone tools for processing wood and hunting and dressing animals; protection against the elements such as hearths, campfires, and dwellings; and the establishment of burial grounds with and without artfully crafted objects, characterizes the Karelia Subtradition (Filatova 1996: 36,40-62 passim). The Karelia Mesolithic has two temporal divisions: early and late. The early portion of the Karelia Mesolithic is characterized by sites that were higher above sea or lake level than were late Mesolithic sites. Early Mesolithic sites were relatively small and shallow. When habitation structures were found, they were minimal. Stone tools were crudely made using local materials. Late Mesolithic material culture attributes include sites that were larger, dwellings that were better constructed, and stone tools that were more finely made than the early Mesolithic features (Filatova 1996: 40;

Gurina 1989: 28-29; Pankrushev 1978: 15).

CULTURAL SUMMARY

Environment

The Mesolithic people of Karelia were likely the first who lived there after the Scandinavian ice sheet had completed its retreat in northwestern Eurasia. Prior to the beginning of the Boreal Period, ecological conditions had been unfavorable for human habitation. During the Boreal Period, the temperatures increased. Birch and pine-birch forests and various grasses covered the land. Broadleaf species of trees appeared, and pine trees moved southward. Cold-loving species of fish began to populate the lakes (Gurina 1989: 29). In January the average temperature was -18° C, which is colder than today. In July the average temperature was between 14 and 16°, which is also cooler than today (Savina and Khotinskiy 1984: 291-292). By the second half of the Atlantic Period (6000-4600 B.P.), which encompassed some of the Karelian Mesolithic Subtradition sites, the northwestern part of Karelia was a mixed pine and broadleaf forest. The southeastern portion, which included Lake Onega, was dark coniferous southern taiga with spruce as the predominant tree (Savina and Khotinskiy 1984: 294-295).

Settlements.

Karelian Mesolithic settlements were located on lakes and Rivers. They were seasonal camps or stopping sites.

96Eastern European Mesolithic

Based on raw materials and geography, the sites fall into two subgroups. The first includes sites in which quartz and slate were the raw materials for stone tools. The second group is made up of sites in which flint was used as raw material. Early Mesolithic sites with a quartzslate inventory were located over a broad area: on the northern shores of Lake Onega (Medvezh'ya Gora X; Mayan' Gora I; Povenetskaya IV, V; Povenchanka I, II) and the lower reaches of the Kema River (Avneporog IV, X, XI, I, II). Indications of dwellings, or at least protection against the elements, at these sites is sparse: four campfires at Avneporog XI; three hearths bordered with stones at Avneporog X; a shallow (0.l0-0.20 m deep) subcircular hearth at Mayan' Gora; and two campfires at Povenchanka. Late Mesolithic sites with quartz-slate tools were few and included sites on or near the western and northern shores of Lake Onega (Chernaya Guba; Pegrema VIII; Povenchanka III; Pindushi IV, VII; Vo'-Navolok XVI near Povenets; Malaya Suna V; Kudoma I; Slugu IV, IX), the Kema River (Niva XIII, XIV, XVIII, XIX; Krivopolozhskaya; Poduzhemskaya II) (Gurina 1989: 27-31 passim; Pankrushev 1978: 54-63 passim). Material culture remains, such as small shallow sites (Pindushi XVI, Yalguba XIV, Yya 11m Sheltozero), indicate that these were seasonal stopping places. Settlements with flint tools number only 11 (Yalguba V, Uya II, Pindushi XIV, Seletsko V, Ust'-Okhtoma, Nizhnyaya Kolonzha II, Ileska III and IV, Sheltozero XXV, XXVI, and XXVIa) and were concentrated east, north, and west of Lake Onega. Like the late Mesolithic sites with a quartz-slate industry, the small and shallow nature of the sites indicates that they were seasonal stopping places (Gurina 1989: 22; Pankrushev 1978: 62).

Economy

Subsistence was based on hunting large and small animals and fishing. The early Mesolithic people likely led a mobile life (Gurina 1989: 29).

Religion and Expressive Culture

Expressive cultural materials in the form of carved elk heads, snakes, and anthropomorphic figures and geometric incisions on bone occurred in burials in the cemetery site, Oleneostrovski' Mogil'nik.

References

Dolukhanov, P. M., and N. A. Khotinskiy, (1984). "Human Cultures and the Natural Environment in the USSR during the Mesolithic and Neolithic." In Late Quaternary Environments in the Soviet Union, ed. A. A. Velichko. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 319-327.

Filatova, F. F. (1996). "Mezolit." In Arkheologiya Karelii, ed. M. Kosmenko and S. I. Kochkurkina. Petrozavodsk: Znak Pocheta, 36-61.

Gurina, N. N. (1989). "Mezolit Karelii." In Mezolit SSSR, ed. L. V. Kol'tsov. Moscow: Nauka, 27-3\.

Pankrushev, G. A. (1978). Mezolit i Neolit Karelia. Leningrad: Nauka. Savina, S. S., and N. A. Khotinskiy, (1984). "Holocene Paleoclimatic Reconstructions Based on the Zonal Method." In Late Quaternary Environments of the Soviet Union, ed. A. A. Velichko. Minneapolis:

University of Minnesota Press, 287-296.

Kola Peninsula

TIME PERIOD: Approximately 9000-7000 B.P. (Gurina

1989: 21,26).

LOCATION: The Kola Peninsula is located in northwestern Russia from the borders of Finland and Norway on the west to the White Sea on the east and from the Barents Sea on the north to the White Sea on the south. The region corresponds to contemporary Murmansk Oblast, Russian Republic.

DIAGNOSTIC MATERIAL ATTRIBUTES: Small stone tools, most

of which were made from quartz, characterize the Kola Peninsula Mesolithic (subtraditional). First, of the small tools, the burin spall, used for a variety of purposes ranging from projectile points to the back part of scrapers, was the predominant and versatile tool in the beginning of the Kola Peninsula. Microliths occurred in the late Mesolithic sites, especially on the northern and southern coasts of the eastern part of the Kola Peninsula Mesolithic. Second, quartz, as well as quartzite and rock crystal, was used as the raw material because of the scarcity of flint. Some slate, rock crystal, and flint artifacts showed up in late Mesolithic sites, except those in the western part of the Kola Peninsula. Overall, scraper-shaped tools (scrapers, scaled planes, end scrapers) and burins were the most frequently occurring tool types. Burins predominated over scrapers in the early part of the Kola Peninsula Mesolithic (subtraditional), and scrapers were more common than burins in the late part of the Kola Peninsula Mesolithic. Burins varied in size (small 1.0 cm. to very large 7.0 cm.) and in type (average, average with the edge displaced from the central axis, angled, and transverse). Scrapers were small and differed in shape and amount of working (small size and random shapes, but with regular round, subtriangular, subrectangular, and subrhomboid contours) in the early Kola Peninsula Mesolithic. Late Mesolithic scrapers were often made out of slate and had more

regular shapes (round, subtriangular, subrectangular) than did early Mesolithic scrapers. Retouch was more regular and took up a broader part of the edge than it did during the early Mesolithic era. Scrapers were made on chips, spalls, and blades. Types of scrapers included end scrapers (ordinary end scrapers, beveled scrapers with convex edges and retouched and lateral edges, and double end scrapers), subcircular scrapers, round scrapers, and side scrapers. Combination scrapers occurred with other types of tools, such as burins, knives, and planes. Projectile points were small and had six variants (asymmetrical tanged points, symmetrical tanged points, cross-edged points on a wide lamellar flake with a truncated edge retouched from the back to a broad tang (some trapeze-shaped points), rhomboid-shaped points, willow-leaf points, and randomly shaped points) throughout the Kola Peninsula sites. Late Mesolithic projectile points had consistent shapes such as asymmetrically tanged projectile points whose bodies were more elongated than the early points. Adzes were the most frequently found of the large chopping tools. The early Mesolithic adzes were made from quartz and quartzite cobbles with minimal retouch by coarse spalls on a fine end that formed an edge. Occasionally, all of the surfaces had been worked resulting in an almond-shaped tool, which was similar to a Lower Paleolithic chopper. Late Mesolithic chopping tools were made from huge chips of slate and silicious slate. The few chopping tools that were found were only partially worked, mainly along the edge. Cores were prismatic with one and two striking platforms and had been struck off from round blades or chips. Some of the cores had subconical shapes with a single striking surface from which round blades and chips had been struck. Others were amorphous cores from chips. Scaled planes made from quartzite and similar to Paleolithic pieces esquilles varied in size, but did not exceed 1.5 cm. Ceramics did not occur in Kola Peninsula Mesolithic sites (Gurina 1989: 20-26 passim).

CULTURAL SUMMARY

Environment

The Kola Peninsula Mesolithic population was adapted to dry ecological conditions. Rocky areas strewn with boulders covered much of the region. The topsoil was poor and very scarce. Vegetation was sparse (Gurina 1989: 20). The coastal area was tundra. Birch and pine trees grew at some distance inland from the sea coast (Khotinskiy 1984: 192-196). During the Boreal Period (9000-8000 B.P.), the average January temperatures

Eastern European Mesolithic 97

ranged between _8° C in the northern and -14° C in the southern part of the Kola Peninsula. These temperatures were colder than those at present in the western part of the Kola Peninsula, but warmer than at present in the eastern three-quarters. The average July temperatures were also lower that at present, ranging between 8° C in the northern and 12° C in the southern parts of the Kola Peninsula (Savina and Khotinskiy 1984: 291-292).

Settlements

Kola Peninsula sites were small. All were located on maritime terraces near the mouths of Rivers and streams and close to lakes and Rivers. The few indications of repeated use, such as dwellings and workshops, were situated in the northwestern maritime group of sites. First, above-ground chum-shaped dwellings that were circular and about 3.0-4.0 m in diameter occurred in unspecified sites on the Rybachyi Peninsula. Evidence for their existence consisted of concentrations of artifacts (3.0-4.0 m in diameter) situated around a circle. A large subrectangular solidly constructed dwelling existed at Site 22 on the bank of Korabel'ny' Ruche' on Bol'shaya Motka Bay. At least one of the walls had been made from a large stone, which served as a solid supporting wall. Inside the walls were quartz and quartzite chips. A second dwelling was indicated by a light stain in a slight hollow in the earth, within which were many quartz and quartzite tools. Second, workshops occurred at two sites, Ankievaya Gora on the Rybachyi Peninsula and Shuoni'oki VI on the right (eastern) bank of the Shuoni'oki River. Ankievaya Gora was a workshop for making almond-shaped tools. Shuoni'oki VI was a workshop in which large silicious slate chips, cores, blades, short sections, scrapers, and quartz burins, scraper-planes, and barely complete projectile points were made. These and all of the other Kola Peninsula sites are grouped by general location. First, northwestern maritime Kola Peninsula sites are located in regions that were the earliest to rise from the sea after the glaciers receded. Therefore, they are oldest of the areas to be settled by humans. Northwestern maritime sites are near the seacoast on the Rybachiy Peninsula in the region of Bol'shaya Motka (Bol'shaya Motka I, II, VI, VII, XVII, XIX, XX, and XXIIa), Tsyp-Navolok (Tsyp-Navolok IV, VI, VII, XIX, Xa, XII, XIII, XIV, and XV), E'no Guba, and the adjoining bays of Bukhta Malaya Volokovaya, Dolgaya Shchel' (Dolgaya Shchel' I, la, II, IIa), Ambarnaya (Ambarnaya I and II), Rastiniemi (Rastiniemi), and near the mouths of the Pechenga (Pechenga II) and Zapadnaya Litsa (Zapadnaya Litsa II and III) Rivers. Second, the

98Eastern European Mesolithic

western group of sites is located inland from the northwestern maritime sites and takes in low-lying Rybachiy Peninsula sites. These sites belong to the early Mesolithic group and are near the banks of the Shuoni'oki (Shuoni'oki IV and V), Kolos'oki (Kolos'oki I and III), and Patso'oki (Patso'oki) Rivers and adjacent to lakes such as Kuetsyavr and Nyalyavr. Third, the northeastern sites are located east of the western sites on the northern coast of the Kola Peninsula. They extend for more than 300 km along bays and confluences of large Rivers and small streams near Dal'nie Zelentsye and the Rynda (Rynda XII), Zolotaya (Zolotaya VI), Kharlovka (Kharlovka IX), Chernaya (Chernaya I on Ivanovskaya Bay), and Lumbovka (Lumbovka I, II, III) Rivers. None of these sites is early, and none has remains that were typical of the northwestern and western groups. Fourth, the southern sites are along the Varsuga, Kitsa, and Niva Rivers, and on lake Kolvitskoe. A few sites occur on the Nivka River (Nivka I and II) in Central Kola Peninsula. These sites were temporally close to the northeast sites and belong to the Late

Mesolithic era. They also had many of the same features that were observed in the northeastern group of sites. Exceptions were the relatively more common use of flint as a raw material, improved technique of working tools, microlithization, and increase in the depth of artifacts. From the stone tool assemblages with their projectile points and scrapers, subsistence during the Mesolithic Period of the Kola Peninsula was based on hunting animals. The location of all of the sites near water and an absence of tools indicative of fishing suggest that the sea had been an important part of subsistence, but that crabs, mollusks, and other small sea creatures may have been gathered. Fish may have been caught by nets or obtained when tides washed them close to the shore (Gurina, 1989: 20-26 passim). Some existence of social structure is indicated by the suggestion of several dwellings on Rybachyi Peninsula, the two dwellings indicated at Site 22 on the bank of Korabel'ny' Ruche' on Bol'shaya Motka Bay, the specialization in tool type that may be exhibited by the workshop at Ankievaya Gora, and the specialization in raw material at Shuoni'oki VI.

References

Gurina, N. N. (1989). "Mezolit Kol'skogo Poluostrova." In Me::olit SSSR, ed. L. V. Kol'tsov. Moscow: Nauka, 20-26.

Khotinskiy, N. A. (1984). "Holocene Vegetation History." In Late Quaternary Environments of the Soviet Union, ed. A. A. Velichko. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 179-200.

Savina, S. S., and N. A. Khotinskiy (1984). "Holocene Paleoclimatic Reconstructions Based on the Zonal Method." In Late Quaternary Environments of the Soviet Union, ed. A.A. Velichko. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 287-296.

Ukraine

TIME PERIOD: 11,000-8000 B.P. (Telegin 1982: 106).

LOCATION: Contemporary Ukraine bordered by Belarus on the north; Russia on the northeast; the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea on the south; and Moldova, Hungary, the Slovak Republic, and Poland on the west.

DIAGNOSTIC MATERIAL ATTRIBUTES: Flint tools, which are

grouped into two geocultural regions and features associated with a localized group of cemeteries. These are (I) geometric microliths and near absence of macrolithic tools in the Azov-Black Sea region that includes Crimea, the Dnieper River region, the Sea of Azov area, and the Donets River Basin; (2) micromacrolithic tools in the Polessye Forest Steppe, middle Dniester River, and Fore-Carpathian region north of the Azov-Black Sea region (Telegin 1982: 238-239, 1989: 107); and (3) microliths, red ocher, and other burial features in three Dnieper rapids region cemeteries (Telegin 1982: 240-241, 1989: 123-124).

These attributes are in turn grouped into regional diagnostic features named after site locations. These are

(1) seven sets of regional diagnostic features in the Sea of Azov-Black sea region sites (Shan Koba and Murzak Koba stages of the Crimea mountains, the Syuren 2 camp site in Crimea, Beloles'e and Grebeniki near the Dniester River northwest of the Black Sea, the OsokorovkaRogalik type on the southern Dnieper River north of the Black Sea, and the Kukrek Culture with variants on the Dniester and Dnieper Rivers and in Crimea); and (2) six sets of regional diagnostic features in the Polessye Forest steppe sites (Nobel' type in Volyn and the Kiev-Zhitomir Forest; the Dnieper-Pripyat Culture with its two variants, the Rudoy Ostrov and the Dnieper Power Supply Station; the Smyachkinski' type on the Desna River; and the Pesochnogo Rva type on the Desna and Dnieper Rivers) (Telegin 1982: 238-240, 1989).

The diagnostic features for the Sea of Azov-Black Sea region Shan Koba stage sites (Shan Koba, levels 6-4 and 3; Buran-Kaya; Murzak Koba; Zamal'-Koba, lower level; Alimovski' Naves (lower level), Vodopadsky' Grotto, lower level; and Syuren 2, upper horizon) are local gray or whitish flint raw material; geometrical microblades (segments predominating and exceeding the frequency of trapezes); conical cores with straight or slanted striking platforms; a high frequency of blades; numerous burins with slanted retouch made on large

thick blades (burins predominating over scrapers in Shan Koba and Fat'ma Koba, but scrapers predominating over burins at Buran-Kaya and Zamal' Koba); Chatelperron-type points made with short edge retouch with well-defined blades; and bone tools including spindle-shaped projectile points and puncturers (Telegin, 1982: 238, 1989: 108-109).

The diagnostic cultural materials of the MurzakKoba Stage (sites of Murzak-Koba; Fat'ma Koba, levels 2-4; Shan-Koba, levels 2-3; Kara-Koba; Laspi 7; Zamil'-Koba I, upper level) are burials, geometric microblades in low frequency (but many elongated or large trapezes), occasional segments, small retouched blades and blades with hollows, scrapers (end scrapers on elongated blades and subcircular scrapers on chips predominating and in higher frequency than burins), burins made from blades, cores (nearly all microlithic and occasionally pencil shaped) that were usually conical with one striking platform (single cases of cores with two striking platforms [prismatic]), knife-shaped blades (a few small, most average, and a high frequency of microblades at Laspi 7 and Shan-Koba), predominance of tools made on blades and occasionally on chips, awls, and bone and stone tools including small bifacial wide-toothed harpoons and spindle-shaped darts (Bibikov 1940; Golomshtok 1938: 237; Klein 1971: 318, 326; Telegin 1982: 237-238, 1989: 109-110; Zhirov 1940: 159). Diagnostic features of Syuren' 2 are a high frequency of willow-leaf-shaped projectile points on blades that are similar to late Swiderian materials from Poland and Nobel' in Vol'yn, Ukraine (Telegin 1989: 110). Diagnostic material attributes of Beloles'e Early Mesolithic sites (Beloles'e I and IV, Kantemir, and Kagil'nik), as generalized by artifacts in the Beloles'e type-site, are microlithic segments and a few geometric microliths, and a predominance of scrapers over burins (Telegin 1989: Ill). Diagnostic features of the Grebeniki Late Mesolithic northern Black Sea Culture (sites of Dobrozhany, Dobzhanka, Girzhevo, Grebeniki, Karpovo, Mirnoe, Orlovka, Shepit'kov Yar, and Tsarichanka near the Dniester River in southwestern Ukraine, and a few sites in northeastern Moldova) include numerous geometric microliths, nearly all of which are trapezes; an absence of burins; a predominance of scrapers, most of which were made on small chips and with subcircular retouch on 75.0 percent of the perimeter; small cores (less than 6.0 cm long), nearly all of which are conical; occasional pencil-shaped cores; average and small-sized blades including cores with oblique ends; points with blunt ends; and blade inserts (Telegin 1982: 238, 1989: 111-112). Materials diagnostic for the Osokorovka-Rogalik Early Mesolithic sites (Kairy,

Eastern European Mesolithic 99

Leont'evka, Osokorovka, Rogalik 1 and 2, Surskaya Island, Yamburg, and others on the lower Dnieper River and in the Don River Basin) are the near absence of microlithic blades and microlithic cores; predominance of trapezes in sites with microblades; fairly large and elongated trapeze-shaped microliths (at Osokorovka and Rogalik 2); nongeometric microblades; a few blades with oblique ends and various types of blades with dull edges; Gravettian points; a moderate frequency (31.4 percent) of blades, which is higher than that found in Shan Koba and Beloles'e sites; numerous tools made on blades; a special type of end scraper on a blade or a chip; double scrapers; predominance of scrapers over burins; predominance of end burins over other types of burins; and a similarity of chipping flint and making knife-shaped blades to that of Late Paleolithic traditions of the lower Dnieper and Don Rivers (Telegin 1982: 238, 1989: 112).

The materials diagnostic for the Late Mesolithic Nenasytets type of sites (Nenasytets) in the Dnieper Rapids area and the Mospino type of site (Mospino, Kremnevaya Gora, Teploe, Melovoe, Zimovniki, Petropavlovka) in the Don River Basin are small flint microliths. These are pencil-shaped cores and numerous retouched blades with hollows; trapeze-shaped geometric microliths; points with an oblique end; moderately high frequency (80.0 percent of the artifacts) of scrapers, usually made from chips and including end scrapers, round scrapers, subcircular scrapers, and side scrapers; predominance of scrapers (10.0 percent of the artifacts) over burins; predominance of burins on the corner of a broken blade; and near absence of macrolithic tools, the exception being those found at Kremnevaya Gora in the Don River Basin (Telegin 1982: 239, 1989: 112-113). Diagnostic features of the Kukrek Culture include its most characteristic feature, the Kukrek insert, made on average-sized blades whose ends were preliminarily broken off resulting in a rectangle 2-4 cm in length (Zaliznyak 1997: 45-46); near absence of geometric microliths such as trapezes; nongeometric microliths (including the Abuzovski' type made on small microblades) such as points with an oblique end; a highly developed technique of flaking microlithic blades and the frequent use of chips for making tools; a highly developed technique of flaking microlithic blades and the frequent use of chips for making tools such as pencilshaped cores, scrapers, most of which are round on chips; and Kukrek burins on fragments of flint; and, as typified by materials from Kamennaya Mogila and Igren' 8, dart points with slots for inserts and arrow points; chelnoki (shuttles) and utyuzhniki (irons) (Telegin 1982: 239, 1989: 113-115 passim). The distinctive features of the Nobel' sites (Berezino, Dedovka,

100Eastern European Mesolithic

Knyashivka, Korost, Kotyra, Mar'yanovka, Nobel', Perevoloka, Sapanov, Senchintsi, Shepetin of the Upper Pripyat Basin, and Volyn) are the near absence of microblades; a few microlithic cores; microlithic tools such as axes and chisels; cores with a slanted striking platform and a relatively low frequency of cores with a straight striking platform; knife-shaped blades, many of which are used as knives; tools made from lamellar blanks; end scraper made on either a chip or a blade as the main type of scraper; predominance of scrapers over burins, which were average and cornered types, and usually made on blades; projectile points made on chips, such as willow-leaf-shaped projectile points made with straight retouch, tanged projectile points formed by short edge retouch, projectile points on blades with an obliquely retouched end, short triangular projectile points, and projectile points with retouch along the entire perimeter (Narodich type); and three types of axes (ax with a neck, oval hatchet, and wedge-shaped ax) (Telegin 1982: 239, 1989: 115-116).

The diagnostic features of the Narodich sites (Chopovichi, Melini, Narodich, Teterev) as generalized from materials in the Narodich site on the Uzh River, Volyn Oblast, are large artifacts made from flint of various qualities; cores usually with one straight striking platform with circular flaking; poorly finished large (more than 1.0 cm wide) blades with unequal edges and a poorly defined back; individual cases of blades and microlithic blades with unequal outlines; predominance of short retouch for making tools; axes with flat continuous finishing on the entire surface; blades, a few of which were used as knives; scrapers, most of which were end scrapers on large blades and lamellar chips and some semicircular or double scrapers; burins, mostly average burins on blades, burins on long narrow blades, or burins on elongated chips; side burins and burins on the corner of a broken blade; and large projectile points (up to 6.0 to 7.0 cm long, some only 3.0 to 3.5 cm long) including projectile points with a lateral hollow without retouch on the other parts of the side of the artifact; willow-leaf and tanged Swiderian and post-Swiderian types; and Narodich points with retouch on one or two edges, sometimes with a unidirectional hollow near the tang and usually subrhombic or oval in shape.

The diagnostic attributes of the Dnieper Rapids cemeteries are burial in a graveyard apart from a known habitation site and in a location adjacent to a significant body of water, in this case, the Dnieper River. Most of the graves contained a single burial, but lacked evidence of a grave pit. The majority of the skeletons were flexed on one side or the other (Telegin 1982: 240, 1989: 124). Vasil'evka I and III burials had red ocher, but none was

found in Voloshskoe. Graves in all three cemeteries contained microliths. Although microliths can be interpreted as grave goods (Haeussler, 1996: 177), they may be evidence of conflict in the population (Balakin and Nuzhnyi 1995; Nuzhnyi 1990: 117-119). In features ofa personal nature, the burials differed in two elements (a shell, Nassa reticulata, and red ocher) and were alike in one (microliths), discussed above. The shell (Nuzhnyi, personal communication, 1997) was found in only one Voloshskoe burial. Red ocher occurred in Vasil'evka I and Vasil'evka III flexed and extended burials, but not in Voloshskoe.

CULTURAL SUMMARY

Environment

The Ukraine Mesolithic subtradition began during a time of transition from the end of the Pleistocene to the beginning of the Holocene. In the early Holocene, Ukraine experienced a dry continental landscape. Two landscape zones, forest and steppe, existed, although their boundaries changed with the shifts in ecological conditions (Telegin 1982: 237). During the Boreal Period (9000-8000 B.P.), Ukraine had at least four ecological zones: (1) pine forest in Northern Ukraine; (2) a mixed grass and xerophytic steppe south of the forest to the Black Sea; (3) a coniferous broadleaf forest in southern Crimea; and (4) semidesert in north and Central Crimea. By the second half of the Atlantic Period (60004000 B.P.), the forest had moved northward, and most of Ukraine was a mixed-grass mesophytic steppe (Khotinskiy 1984: 192-195). Faunal remains included largeto small-sized animals and shellfish and ranged from cave bear in early Mesolithic Crimea to domestic dog in Late Mesolithic Podnestrov'ya (Telegin 1982: 40, 1989: 110).

Settlements

All of the sites, whether they were in Crimea or in the woodlands of northwestern Ukraine, were located on Rivers (Telegin 1989: 107). In Crimea, Mesolithic sites such as Fat'ma Koba, Kara Koba, Lapsi, MurzakKoba, Shan-Koba, Syuren' 2, and Zamil'-Koba I were situated in caves, which provided natural protection (Telegin 1989: 110). Other sites, such as Beloles'e and Mirnoe, were camps (Telegin 1989: Ill). None of the sites had apparent evidence of hierarchial social structure. The possible exception might be seen in graves in the Dnieper Rapids cemeteries, especially in those with red ocher, microliths, and flexed positions. With these exceptions, dealing with day-to-day existence was the