Análisis de huellas de uso y de residuos de los instrumentos de piedra usados por los primeros agricultores en el yacimiento Klerk-5 de Primorye (Rusia). Resultados preliminares

The research of the tools for processing plants is of great importance for finding out when gathering and farming begins in many regions of Eurasia. In the territory of East Asia the migration of farmers’ communities of Zaisanovski cultural tradition is traced from North-East China at first to Central Primorye of the Russia’s Far East, and after that to the coastal parts of this region, where the traditional occupation of the population was primarily fishing and hunting marine mammals (about 5300-4600 BP). The traceological analysis involving the experimental data allowed to figure out that some stone tiles, their fragments and pebbles from the Klerk 5 settlement, based on the coast of the Sea of Japan, had been used as grinding stones for processing plants. The results of the traceological analysis were confirmed by the detection of starch residues on the working surfaces of these tools. These facts indicate that the migration of farmers from the continental regions to the coastal part of Russian Far East contributed to the development of farming, previously unknown in this territory.La investigación de los instrumentos para el procesado de plantas es de gran importancia para descubrir cuándo comenzó la recolección y la agricultura en muchas regiones de Eurasia. En el territorio de Asia Oriental, la migración de las comunidades campesinas de la tradición cultural Zaisanovski procede del noreste de China hacia Primorye Central del Lejano Oriente de Rusia primeramente, y después alcanza las partes costeras de esta región, donde la ocupación tradicional de la población era principalmente la pesca y la caza de mamíferos marinos (en torno a 5300-4600 BP). El análisis traceológico, que incorporó datos experimentales, permitió descubrir que algunas losas de piedra, sus fragmentos y guijarros del asentamiento Klerk 5, ubicado en la costa del Mar de Japón, se habían utilizado como molinos para el procesado de plantas. Los resultados del análisis traceológico se confirmaron mediante la detección de residuos de almidón en las superficies de trabajo de estos útiles. Estos hechos indican que la migración de los agricultores de las regiones continentales a la parte costera del Lejano Oriente ruso contribuyó al desarrollo de la agricultura, anteriormente desconocida en este territorio

Functional use of large stone tool from the Upper Paleolithic site of Kamennaya Balka II (the Northern Azov Sea region, Russia)

The assemblages of many Paleolithic sites on the Russian Plain contain large pebbles of various types of stone, which, due to the natural and unmodified forms, rarely become objects of special study. Some of them retain their natural shape, others are slightly artificially modified. In the course of our research, artifacts from several Paleolithic sites in Russia and the Republic of Moldova were subjected to a comprehensive study. Technical-morphological and experimental-traceological studies made it possible to characterize the methods of their manufacture and use. Among the items studied, there is a trapezoidal slab retrieved in the lower layer of the Late Paleolithic stratified site Kamennaya Balka II (the Northern Azov Sea region, Russia). On its surface, use-wear traces were found, which are characteristic of wear traces on tools used to grind plant materials. To verify the results of the traceological analysis, a series of experiments was performed. The wear traces on the working part of the experimental tool turned out to be similar to those found on the original one. The functional identification of the slab from Kamennaya Balka II as a tool for processing plants was also confirmed by the discovery on the working surface of mineralized starch grains. This comprehensive study of an unmodified stone artifact from the Kamennaya Balka II site and its identification as the lower grinding stone indicates the presence of complex foraging strategies among the economic activities of the inhabitants of the site and their successful adaptation to the natural environment in this region