This work deals with the comprehensive analysis of the Upper Palaeolithic site of Radomyshl’ I. For the first time a detailed technical, technological and typological-statistical analysis of the stone industry has been proposed, and its place in cultural-chronological division of the Upper Palaeolithic of Eastern Europe has been distinguished.
The site of Radomyshl’ I is located in the south-eastern part of the Zhytomyr Polissia region. It was investigated by I.G. Shovkoplias in 1957 and 1959. Cultural remains are represented by a considerable amount of flint artefacts (about 12,000 pieces) and faunal materials, overwhelmingly composed of mammoth bones (Mammuthus primigenius). However, detailed analysis of these finds was not published until the present.
I.G. Shovkoplias interpreted this site as a settlement, where separate families lived in six small dwellings made of mammoth bones and ran a household together using a single common external hearth, a place for flint knapping and a storage pit. He regarded Radomyshl’ I as an earliest Upper Palaeolithic site of the transitional period from the Middle to the Upper Palaeolithic. Several variants of the cultural-chronological interpretation of the site were recently suggested. These are: 1) «transitional» character; 2) Aurignacian or «Aurignacoid» character; 3) Epi-Aurignacian; 4) the industry of Radomyshl’ I as the peculiar phenomenon of the early period of the Upper Palaeolithic; 5) the industry of Radomyshl’ I as the peculiar phenomenon of the middle period of the Upper Palaeolithic.
Since the cultural layer of this site was lying not deep enough under the ground surface, all bones were poorly preserved, so that they are not available any more for modern zooarchaeological analyses. The field documentation, the original records, the original list of faunal remains have been used to study of morphology, to determine the quantification and age profile of the mammoth assemblage, to compare the skeletal preservation between the different bone clusters and to look for the possible sorting of bone elements. These features were compared to those of Upper Palaeolithic mammoth bone dwellings. The obtained results have shown that the clusters of mammoth bones from the site cannot be identified as dwellings.
The stone collection includes 11,908 artifacts. The full cycle of primary and secondary stages of chipped stone production has been observed. Used technique of flint knapping was percussion with hard and soft hammer. The knapping technology of the site of Radomyshl’ I is clearly distinguished as the Upper Palaeolithic. The technique of knapping is parallel. Uni- and bidirectional sub-cylindrical cores with a flat striking platform are dominated. The majority of blanks have proper negatives on their dorsal surface. Blades were the leading blanks and the primary goal of knapping. Occurrence of core-tablets, crested blades (5 %) also indicate Upper Palaeolithic technology. The under-platform areas have been analyzed. They were intended for removal of the shortcomings on the line between the platform and work surface for further production of high-quality elongated blanks. Rough upholstery was used for overhang reduction more often than the abrasive grinding.
Share of primary chips covered with a crust on 75—100 % of their dorsal side is noted on approximately 7 % of the blanks.
Such markers as parallel uni- / bidirectional prismatic and end cores, «lip» on blanks (35 %) allow the inclusion of the flint characteristics of the Radomysl’ I assemblage as being more close to the Gravettian techno-complex than any other known in Ukraine.
The tools are numerous (15.6 %) in flint collection. The tool-kit is dominated by burins (45%), of which dihedral ones are most frequent. Points on blades with bilateral dorsal retouch and borers represent a quite a significant proportion of the tool kit. Apart of retouched blades / flakes other types such as end-scrapers, combined tools (burin / end-scrapers), denticulates / notches, are represented in small numbers only. Observation of common technical and typological characteristics lead to the attribution of Radomyshl’ I as a version of the Eastern European Gravettian. This assessment is supported by 14C dates (OxA-697: 19000±300 BP and Ki-6210: 19600±350 BP). At the same time, in accordance with the typological analysis, the major Gravettian tools, i.e. Gravette point, Kostenki knife, backed blades, are not noted in this complex, such as.
The specific assemblage of Radomyshl’ I may represent a local type industry of the Gravettian techno-complex. The specific typological structure of the lithic tool kit can be explained by narrow economic specialization.
The faunal and lithic remains together suggest that the main activity of inhabitants of Radomyshl’ I was collecting, storing, sorting and cutting the mammoth tusks and bones during a warm period of a year.
