The Gravettian / Epigravettian in the Kostenki-Borshevo locality on the Don — the division criteria, cultural interpretation and periodisation

Abstract

The article considers archaeological and chronological data on the Middle / Late Upper Paleolithic sites in the Kostenki-Borshevo locality on the Don River, which were attributed by various au-thors to the Gravettian and the Epigravettian cultures. Here I present an attempt to revise the periodisation of these industries in the light of new materials and 14 C dates. The Gravettian of the Kostenki-Borshevo area consists of several cultural complexes. The Tel-manskaia complex Kostenki 8 (II) which has a pro-nounced microlithoid character can be dated to ~27– 25 kyr BP. The Middle Gravettian is represented by the Aleksandrovka or “the Pavlovien” complex which is characterized by polished stone tools (Kostenki 4, Borschevo 5 and Kostenki 9) can be dated to ~25–24 kyr BP. The Late Gravettian is represented by the Ko- stenki-Avdeevo or “the East Gravettian” complex (Ko-stenki 1, 13, 14 (I) and 18) can be dated to~23–22 kyr BP. The Final Gravettian is represented by the Gme-linskaia complex of Kostenki 21 (III) with tiny shoul-dered points can be dated to ~22–21 kyr BP. The lat-ter site contained the finds of Anosovka complex also associated with the site Kostenki 11 (II) characterized by geometric microliths, which is tentatively might be called “the Early Epigravettian”. The beginning of the LGM cooling event ~20 kyr BP was marked with “the Epiaurignacian” of Kostenki 11 (II) and Kostenki 2 sites. The recent Evolved Epigravettian sites Bor-schevo 1 and Borschevo 2 with14C dates ~15–12 kyr BP were separated from the previous complexes by a significant hiatus and do not constitute with them either chronological or cultural continuity.