"Ceramics" from the zaraysk upper paleolithic site

Abstract

Zaraysk is one of the best-studied and best-known Russian Upper Paleolithic sites of the Kostenki-Willendorf type. One of the most intriguing fi nds of excavations at that site concerns an unusual group of artifacts, tentatively interpreted as ceramics. This article gives a detailed description of these, and addresses their spatial distribution. The items have been subjected to fi ring, but the chemical and mineralogical analysis suggests that they were made of ocher or highly ferruginized clay unsuitable for manufacturing ordinary ceramics. Poor p reservation caused by taphonomic processes precludes a reliable reconstruction of the original morphology and function of the items. Their shape, however, is rather standard and is paralleled by the "non-fi gurative" ceramics of Pavlov and Dolní Vìstonice, whose function is not clear either. It appears that the Zaraysk people tried to reproduce the Central European prototypes in terms of form and function, but, intentionally or not, used a raw material suitable for making a red pigment rather than ceramics. Formally, the Zaraysk pieces can barely be described as ceramics proper, possibly evidencing unsuccessful copying. The fi nal answer, then, hinges on the true purposes of the manufacturers.