Zaraysk is part of the Kostenki / Avdeevo group, and is the northenmost example of this culture. The site dates to between 22 000 and 16 000 years ago. The inhabitants were living in a peri-glacial tundra environment, but could call on the rich flint and animal resources of the area at that time. Wood was scarce, but flint, bone and ivory were plentiful, so that raw materials for food, fuel and tools were readily available.
Photo: http://zaraysk.com/6_Istoriya.html
Zarysk is at 54° 45' 55" North, 38° 53' 1" East, about 150 km south of Moscow.
Photo: Google Earth
Dig at Zaraysk in the shadow of the castle.
Photo: http://ru.wikipedia.org/
Old plan of the castle.
Photo: http://www.castlesontheweb.com/photoarchive/index.php?action=one&photoid=6659&sessionid=
(left) Students from Great Britain at the Zaraysk site in 2005.
At suitable places in the digs, vertical walls were left so that the stratigraphy could be further investigated and correlated with the finds. This significantly complicated the efforts of the researchers in the field, but significantly increased the quality of the finds.
By studying the permafrost cracks which damaged the cultural layers, the sequence of events as the ice advanced and retreated was determined, with evidence of habitation disappearing with the ice, and reappearing in slightly warmer times.
Photo: http://ru.wikipedia.org/
The evidence of the first phase occupancy was the least well preserved, since they were modified by later constructions and by permafrost. It is possible to determine, however, that there was a well structured settlement, and in particular there was a line of storage holes around one site in which were found mammoth bones and a statuette of a bison, shown left.
Photo: http://ru.wikipedia.org/
(left) One of the smaller storage pits from the first phase of occupation, with flint blades at the bottom.
During the second phase, the settlement changed in structure. The holes are located in the same direction, but are larger and deeper, being 1 metre in diameter and 50 cm deep. The pit-dwellings located along this line were an elongated shape up to 5 metres long and with a width and depth of 1 metre. (This seems very narrow for a dwelling to me. Perhaps this is a mistranslation - Don)
The roof seems to have been made of mammoth ivory, covered with hides. Near the dwellings were excavated storage holes with a diameter of 50 cm and a depth of up to 1.5 metres. They were usually covered with a mammoth shoulder blade, over the round hole. This structure also occurs in Kostenki 1 in the vicinity of two neighbouring dwellings.
Necklace made from the teeth of the arctic fox.
Photo: http://ru.wikipedia.org/
The large number of mammoth bones found at the site raises a lot of questions about their origin. It seems highly unlikely that such a large number of bones was the result of hunting. Given that a large number of bones were burned in the pits (since in the peri-glacial tundra of those times there was little if any wood available) this indicates that the settlement was of a relatively small tribe of several dozen people. The numbers could not get much smaller, given the harshness of the climate.
The bones were apparently near the site, possibly from "cemetery" mammoths which were killed or drowned in the nearby river, which at the time was much deeper than it is now. These may have washed up at the nearby bend in the river, and the bone was gathered from there. It is noteworthy that almost all the tusks were used as building material and have similar sizes, which indicates their pre-selection. Support for this hypothesis is that many of the bones at the site are several thousand years older than the age of the cultural layer.
Photo: http://ru.wikipedia.org/
(left) Mattock made from a mammoth tusk.
Besides mammoth bones, the bones of deer, hare, bison, birds and rodents were found. The small bones were used for needles and awls, the large ones were used as mattocks for digging.
There were many paws of the polar fox found. Most likely they were retained or used as a decorative element for fur clothing.
(left) Ochre in the bottom of a storage pit.
An important element of the spiritual life of the settlement was red ochre, which was apparently made by burning iron concretions which are found in large quantities nearby in sandy sediments.
Photo: http://ru.wikipedia.org/
(left) Shouldered points, with the base of the point reduced in width to make it easier to attach to a handle or a spear.
The Zaraysk site is extremely rich in flint artefacts, with tens of thousands of specimens found.
The availability of basic raw materials such as flint is an important factor in determining the specific character of a site. This radically distinguishes Zaraysk from other sites such as odnokul'turnykh / однокультурных which is considerably remote from raw materials.
The proximity of flint resources made it possible not to economise on raw materials. Thus it is possible to meet points which are 16 cm long, and blades with a length of more than 30 cm. In the 2001 - 2002 season a pit from the third phase was found which was completely filled with large flint nodules with masses up to 4 kg each.
This makes it possible to speak, if not about megaliths, then at least about macroliths with respect to the flint inventory of Zaraysk.
Photo: http://ru.wikipedia.org/
(left) Kostenki type blades found at Zaraysk.
The technology of flint knapping, thus, was directed towards obtaining a flat lamellar blade, as at Kostenki and Avdeevo. Specifically, it was from blades that most tools were formed.
Among the types of tools found are Kostenki type knives, shouldered points , and also blades with a blunted edge, or backed knives.
Some of these tools belong not only to the Kostenki-Avdeevo culture, but also to the entire Kostenki-Willendorf culture.
Microliths (very small stone tools usually made from sections of small blades) with a blunted edge are an interesting form of a small tool which can be used as inserts into a bone or wooden mounting for making a composite tool, such as a harpoon.
Among other tools should be noted a large number of knives of different types, as well as scrapers, burins, points and hammer stones.
Photo: http://ru.wikipedia.org/
However, the first significant discovery, which placed Zaraysk on the same level with the best known Palaeolithic sites of Europe, was made during September 2001 with the excavation of Pit 71. Sergey Lev discovered a naturalistic statuette of a bison made from a mammoth tusk.
The left side the body was damaged by a sharp object, it was densely coated with red ochre, and both left legs were broken off, as can be seen in the drawing at left.
Apparently the statuette was damaged and put into the pit deliberately.
The conclusion that Dr Amirkhanov and Dr Lev came to was that the burial of the statuette of bison occurred during the course of a magic hunting rite. It was broken deliberately, so that the magic would stop the actual bison from running away in reality.
In favor of this interpretation is the fact that the primitive sculptor depicted not an adult male bison, but a young female, which is more easily hunted.
The close similarity of the image to the original would have been believed to contribute to successful hunting.
"pit 71" is part of the earliest stage of the population of the site, phase one, which places the age of statuette at 22 000 - 23 000 BP.
Photo: http://ru.wikipedia.org/
This text and photo from http://www.archaeology.org/0209/newsbriefs/palaeo.html
The figurine was found on a specially built podium at the bottom of a small storage pit.
The figurine has a length-to-width ratio of 1.6:1, which perfectly coincides with that of an adult bison, and its beard and mane were carefully engraved. The bison's left legs had been broken off before it was put in the pit, and traces of red ochre and black pigment still remain on its surface.
(These proportions appear to relate to the length and height of the sculpture, which may be confirmed from the side on view of the sculpture. The sculpture appears to be narrowed from side to side compared with real life when you look at the top down photograph here. - Don)
An additional discovery was made in 2005 which confirms the grouping of Zaraysk with the Kostenki-Willendorf culture. In a storage pit of the second phase a venus figurine was discovered, made from mammoth ivory, as well as a part of an analogous statuette.
Photo: http://ru.wikipedia.org/
