Stupak A. V. Economy of the Mesolithic and Neolithic hunter tribes of Ukraine by the archaeozoological data. – Qualifying scientific work on the manuscript.
Dissertation to obtain the scientific degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the field 03 “Humanities”, speciality 032 “History and archaeology”. – National University of Kyiv-Mohyla academy, Kyiv, 2023
Mesolithic and Neolithic hunter-gatherer tribes existed on the territory of Ukraine for at least 7 thousand years (10 – 4 thousand years ago). During the early and middle stages of the Holocene, various models of adaptation to environmental conditions were formed. They include a number of specific hunting and fishing methods and the yearly cycle of economic organization.
Compared with the Pleistocene epoch, in the Holocene's early stages, the forest type of landscape increased. Nonherding ungulate species changed the large Pleistocene megafauna. The increase in average annual temperature in the Holocene led to increasing in the species diversity of freshwater fish (Makowiecki 2003). New living conditions demanded fundamental changes in the management of the appropriating economy compared to previous eras.
The economy of the Mesolithic and Neolithic tribes of Ukraine was the object of interest of many specialists in disciplines related to archeology. This dissertation study is devoted to the reconstruction of the Mesolithic and Neolithic hunter-gatherer economy of Ukraine using the data and methods of archaeozoology.
The object of archaeozoology research is the animal bones, that were left as kitchen waste by people of previous historical epochs. The topic of this thesis research is deal with Mesolithic and Neolithic time hunter-gatherer tribes. Archaeozoological research involves procedures for determining the species composition; interpretation of bone remains distribution of according to their economic purpose; study of specific traces of the use on the bones; state of preservation of bone material. The results of archaeozoological research can provide to determine the main animals for hunting strategy, ways of behaving with animal production, the settlement seasonality, and other details of life and economic organization of the settlement. Therefore, the materials of archaeozoology are an important source for studying the primitive hunting and fishing economy.
The history of usage of archaeozoological data for the interpretation of archaeological sources in Ukraine dates back to the beginning of the 20th century (Pidoplichko 1954; Rekovets 2012). O. Browner was one of the first researchers in Ukraine who starts to identify animal bones from archaeological sites. He worked with the species identification of the remains of horses from archaeological sites in southern Ukraine (Brauner 1916).
There are a lot of scientific tasks dealing with Mesolithic and Neolithic times reconstructions that need to be solved. Many previous archaeozoological studies were limited to compiling a species list of animals. It is relevant to review the species composition of some settlements, generalize data on archaeozoological collections of Mesolithic and Neolithic sites, and expand our understanding of the behavior pattern of ancient hunters with products of animal origin. Analyzing the state of bone preservation helps with determining natural and anthropogenic factors. The analysis of age categories of mammals is useful in determining the seasonality of each settlement. Analysis of the representation of the anatomical elements indicates food using different parts of the animal body. In some cases, the lack of nutritionally minor elements may indicate that the animal was hunted at a long distance from the camp, and only the most nutritious parts of the animal carcasses were delivered to the camp.
Different natural conditions of different natural and landscape zones of Ukraine led to development of four types of adaptation models of Mesolithic and Neolithic tribes. In Mesolithic and Neolithic periods of Ukraine, these adaptation models consists of forest hunters, hunters and fishermen of the banks of large rivers, hunters of the steppe zones, and hunters of mountain forests. The faunal composition from archaeological sites of different adaptation models has its own specificity. In particular, in species composition of animals, bone preservation, and the way of meat utilization. The data of ethnography complement our ideas about the economic life on Mesolithic and Neolithic settlements, ways of hunting and the use of products of animal origin.
Key words: Eastern Europe, Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithiс, Eneolithic, Stone age of Ukraine, hunters and gatherers, teriofauna, archaeozoology, prehistory, chronology, historiography.
