Kuĺ 1, stanowisko mezolityczne z południowo-zachodniej

Stanowisko Kuĺ 1 zlokalizowane 5,1 km na zachód od wsi Sviatica, położone jest w dystrykcie Liachavičy, w regionie Brest (południowo-zachodnia Białoruś). Stanowisko o powierzchni 81 m2 zostało przebadane w 2006 roku. Kolekcja archeologiczna liczyła 286 artefaktów krzemiennych. Rdzenie odłupkowe i wiórowe reprezentowane były przez formy jednopiętowe (2 fragmenty), dwupiętowe (3 fragmenty) a także takie o zmienionej orientacji. Zestaw narzędziowy zawierał różnorodne formy narzędzi m.in. rylce (12), drapacze (3), zgrzebło (1), półtylczaki (3), ciosła (3). Ostrze z retuszowaną podstawą jest jedynym zbrojnikiem w zestawieniu. Na podstawie zastosowanej charakterystycznej technologii oraz morfologii form narzędzi możliwe jest przyporządkowanie zbioru artefaktów ze stanowiska Kuĺ 1 do kultury Kudlajevka.Kuĺ 1 settlement is located 5.1 km to the west of Sviatica village, Liachavičy District, Brest Region (southwestern Belorussia). An area of 81 m2 was excavated at the site in 2006. The obtained archaeological assemblage consists of 286 flint artifacts. Cores for blades and flakes are represented by single- (2 pieces), double- (3) and multiplatform (3) ones as well as four fragments. Tool-set contains various types of burins (12), end-scrapers (3), a scraper (1), truncated blades (3), adzes (3). A bladelet with truncated base is the only microlith in the assemblage. It is possible to attribute the assemblage to Kudlaevka culture based on peculiarities of flintworking technology and morphology of tools

Early and Middle Holocene Antler Tools With Holes From the Gravel Pits of the Smarhon Area, North-Western Belarus

The present article focuses on artefacts made of antlers with holes drilled for the haft, both those available in physical collections and those known only from archaeological literature. This category of items is held by a number of central and regional museums in Belarus, as well as in private collections. Such ‘dispersion’ of the items makes their study problematic. Until now, no comprehensive study of antler artefacts with drilled holes from gravel pits located in Smarhon has been conducted. Publications have so far considered only the specimens that are most representative from the point of view of comparative typology. Michal Chernyavskiy and Piotr Kalinovskiy invariably associated tools with drilled holes with the Mesolithic period. However, this group of tools is more diverse and chronologically complicated than previously thought. The authors of the present article propose a new typological scheme for this item category which is part of a pan-European cultural and chronological context based on a complex analysis of antler artefacts with drilled holes

Using Radiocarbon Dates and Tool Design Principles to Assess the Role of Composite Slotted Bone Tool Technology at the Intersection of Adaptation and Culture-History

Slotted bone tools are an iconic example of composite tool technology in which change in one of the components does not require changing the design of the other parts. Commonly, slotted bone tools are seen through the lens of lithic technology, highlighting organizational aspects related to serial production of insets, reliability and maintainability. In this framework, slotted bone tool technology is associated with risk aversion in demanding environmental settings. Here, we provide the first overview of radiocarbon-dated slotted bone tools in northernmost Europe and the East European Plain, including 17 new direct dates on pitch glue, and show that the Late Pleistocene to Middle Holocene period of inset slotted bone tool use in this area shows marked variation and idiosyncrasy in associated lithic technology against a trend of continuously warming climate. We suggest that historical specificity and path-dependence, rather than convergent evolution, best explain the variability seen in slotted bone tool technology in the studied case, and that slotted bone tools in general formed an organizationally flexible, adaptable and hence likely adaptive technological solution that met a wide variety of cultural and technological demands.Peer reviewe