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VITA ANTIQUA ISSN: 2522-9419 (Online), ISSN: 2519-4542 (Print)

VITA ANTIQUA 9, 2017, HUMAN & LANDSCAPE: Prehistoric Archaeology of Eastern Europe, 171-179
The Natural Environment and Cultural Adaptation of the Prehistoric Population of Dnieper Nadporizhzhya in the Late Mesolithic – Early Neolithic
Demchenko О.V.¹
¹ Department of archeology and ethnology of Ukraine, Faculty of History, I.Mechnikov Odessa National University, Odessa

DOI:10.37098/VA-2017-9-171-179
https://doi.org/10.37098/VA-2017-9-171-179

ABSTRACT

“Dnieper Nadporizhzhia” (Dnieper Rapids Region) is a specific region located between the Middle and Lower streams of the Dnieper, between the modern cities of Dnepropetrovsk and Zaporozhye. In terms of addressing the issue of the relationship between environment and human activity, this region is extremely promising. For this site during the late Mesolithic – Neolithic is characterized by a peculiar adaptive model of fishermen-hunters-gatherers, which was due to specific geographical conditions and resource potential of the region. Using paleoecology approach to the study of archaeological sites we will reconstruct the way of life, characteristics of living space and the specifics of human behavior in specific landscape and climatic conditions of the Dnieper Rapids Region. This approach makes it possible to explain the causal of the population adaptive strategy that preserves appropriating type of economy within the boundaries of a small ecological niche for a long period at relative sedentariness. The success of the adaptive strategy of the population was concluded in well-planned economic calendar, which corresponded to the opportunities resource base, the annual climatic fluctuations with respect to the natural fauna and flora biorhythms. All of this imposed places and principles of settlements formation (island, coastal, basic winter, summer, season, etc.), changing economic and domestic dominance over the year (fishery, gathering, and catching riverine game), instruments and domestic implements specialization, worldview formation, etc.

Key words: Prehistoric Archaeology, Early Neolithic, Late Mesolithic, Dnieper Nadporizhzhia, cultural adaptation

Language: Ukrainian

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