VITA ANTIQUA,                                                                        ISSN 2522-9419 (Online), 2519-4542 (Print)
Center for Paleoethnological research

VITA ANTIQUA 13, 2021. Dwellings of Prehistoric Europe: social adaptations in variable environments.
Lithic processing complex of the fourth dwelling of the Mezhyrich Upper Palaeolithic settlement

Tsvirkun Ostap¹, Pavlo Shydlovskyi², Dudnyk Diana³, Marharyta Chymyrys⁴

¹ National Museum of the History of Ukraine
ORCID: 0000-0002-3265-2471

²,⁴ Taras Shevchenko National University
ORCID: 0000-0001-6771-812X
ORCID: 0000-0002-4177-5246

³Institute for Archaeology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
⁴ORCID: 0000-0003-0855-3219

DOI:10.37098/VA-2021-13-55-86
https://www.doi.org/10.37098/VA-2021-13-55-86

ABSTRACT
In order to determine the degree of relatedness of archaeological sites, it is important to study lithic assemblages originated from relatively closed archaeological objects and which can serve as a reference for a comparative analysis of several industries. This article analyses a separate archaeological object – a flint Workshop 1 – against the background of the overall structure of the lithic assemblage of the fourth household unit.

The Workshop 1 was discovered during the excavations of the fourth dwelling of the Mezhyrich epigravettian site in 2018-2020. The history of the study of this dwelling and lithic assemblage of the fourth unit, the conditions of detection and the context of the Workshop 1 location, the typological-statistical and technological features of the flint artifacts, obtained as a result of the latest excavations of the fourth dwelling filling, are given.

Analysis of the distribution of finds together with stratigraphic observations allow us to assert at least two living surfaces into the dwelling. Planigraphic features of the trench studied in dwelling demonstrate the functional specialization of different parts of the interior space. The study revealed two different areas on both sides of the central part with the remains of the hearth. Cultural remains in the south-western part testify to fur and leather processing operations here, while in the north-eastern part of the trench there is clear evidence of flint knapping operations and the manufacture of tools, which in turn related to leather processing.

Data on the spatial distribution of flint products in other dwellings of the Mezhyrich settlement reveal common features in the organization of living space. Such peculiarities of the behaviour of the prehistoric inhabitants require the search for more distant analogies on the mezhyrichian industry sites and among the Upper Palaeolithic population of Eastern Europe in general.

Keywords: Upper Palaeolithic, Epigravettian, household unit, workshop, lithic technology.

Language: Ukranian

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Cite as:

Tsvirkun, O., Shydlovskyi, Dudnyk, D., Chymyrys, M. 2021. Lithic processing complex
of the fourth dwelling of the Mezhyrich Upper Palaeolithic settlement. VITA ANTIUA, 13. Dwellings of Prehistoric Europe: social adaptations in variable environments, pp. 55-86.

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