SCIENTIFIC EDUCATIONAL CENTER science idea

For the first time, MSU scientists and colleagues described in detail the terrain at the time of human habitation at the Byki parking lots in the Kursk region. So, using geophysical methods, the authors of the study found out that in the Late Stone Age era — 21-18 thousand years ago — the studied area was covered with elevated sand dunes alternating with rounded depressions. The ancient people chose the hills for their sites because they provided a good view, and the depressions, which at that time were lakes, served as a source of water. These discoveries allow us to understand how our ancestors adapted to different landscapes. The results of the study, supported by a grant from the Russian Science Foundation, are published in the journal L'Anthropologie.

The life of people of the Stone Age was inextricably linked with the natural environment, so scientists exploring their settlements are trying to understand not only what ancient dwellings and their inhabitants looked like, but also what kind of landscape surrounded a person, what was the climate, what plants and animals existed around. As it is today, the climate of the Late Glacial period gradually changed, and with it the natural environment of man changed. Knowledge about the natural habitat of the inhabitants of the Paleolithic — an era dating back to the territory of the East European Plain about 40-10 thousand years ago - helps to understand how people adapted to changing natural conditions.

MSU scientists with colleagues from the Institute of Geography of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Kurchatov Museum of Local Lore (Kurchatov) for the first time conducted a comprehensive study on the territory of the archaeological monument "Bulls" in the Kursk region to determine what relief surrounded the parking lots that existed at this place 21-18 thousand years ago and how it was used by people.

Very often, Stone Age people are presented exclusively as mammoth hunters. This is not surprising, because at most sites of the East European plain, a huge number of bones of these giants are found. However, nomads lived in the bull camps, who hunted hoofed animals — reindeer and horses — as well as fur-bearing animals, for example, a hare. The nomadic lifestyle of the settlers led to the fact that the inhabitants either left the parking lot or returned to it.

The modern relief at the site of the Bulls is significantly different from the ancient one due to the fact that in the 1970s the construction of sewage treatment plants was carried out here. To "look" under the surface of the earth and describe the ancient landscape of the territory without opening the thickness of the earth, the researchers used geophysical methods: geolocation, magnetic exploration, as well as verification drilling and topographic survey. The combination of these approaches made it possible to obtain a three-dimensional map of the ancient relief, to suggest a place where there may be a new parking lot. As a result of excavations at this site, an undisturbed cultural layer was discovered.

"Geolocation and magnetic prospecting are often used in the study of archaeological sites later than Paleolithic ones. However, the people of the Stone Age did not leave structures that we could discover using these methods. That's why we had a big geological task.: We tried to identify traces of ancient landforms hidden under late sediments and reconstruct how they looked before. This complex is being used for the first time for Paleolithic sites on the East European Plain," says Svetlana Bricheva, head of the project supported by an RNF grant, researcher at the Faculty of Geology of Moscow State University, head of the Geophysical group at the Institute of Geography of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

The authors determined that by the time the first people appeared in the Bulls (about 21 thousand years ago), the natural relief was a combination of elevated sand dunes and rounded depressions — the so-called "steppe saucers", which appeared as a result of the melting of permafrost. Today, such a landscape can be found in the northern regions of Russia, where permafrost persists. Younger sediments filling these depressions indicate that there was water in them, that is, there were numerous ancient lakes on the territory of the sites. At the same time, the study showed that the parking lots were located on a hill: this position provided the best visibility in all directions, and the lakes could serve as a source of water for people in the Stone Age.

"The cooperation of archaeologists and geophysicists has proved to be very effective. Our discoveries lie in unraveling the very mechanism of how our ancestors adapted to the peculiarities of the microrelief of the area and learned to use it. In particular, we assume that the sandy hills on the one hand could serve as a convenient viewing platform, and on the other hand, their leeward sides could be used as a shelter from strong winds. The integrated approach we have used opens up broad prospects for the search for new sites of ancient man in the Kursk region and provides food for new hypotheses about the strategies of ancient man's vital activity," says Natalia Akhmetgaleeva, an archaeologist, a participant in the project supported by an RNF grant, head of the Kurchatov Paleolithic expedition, chief researcher of the Kurchatov Museum of Local Lore.

The authors plan to apply the proposed approach to the study of other Paleolithic monuments on the East European Plain, such as the Avdeevskaya site in the Kursk region, the Khotylevo site in the Bryansk region, and the Zaraisk site in the Moscow region.

PHOTO: Sampling from wells near the Byki-2 parking lot. In the photo, Maria Tarasova. Source: Svetlana Bricheva

https://msu.ru