ABOUT POSSIBILITY OF ANTHROPOGENIC INFLUENCE AT THE CREATING OF PLEISTOCENE TAPHOCENOSE FROM THE OUTSKIRTS OF KHOROSNO-VYNYAVA NEAR LVIV (BY THE MATERIALS FROM 2002)
Journal Title: Матеріали і дослідження з археології Прикарпаття і Волині - Year 2016, Vol 20, Issue
Abstract
First (previous) information about discovery of new Pleistocene oryktocenose on the west of Podillia uplands close to Vynyava near Lviv in the abandoned quarry is presented at the article. In precipitous vertical outcrops height of 20–25 m. in the deposits of badenium horizontal tunnel with a diameter of about 1 m, dug 2,0–2,5 m. below the foot of limestone and it extends deep into the slope to the north direction. Horizontal position of the tunnel, which is located at a considerable height from the base level of erosion, its round cross-section, smooth walls and other features allow suggesting an artificial extension of the initial karst narrow gap. At the bottom of the tunnel fossil bones of cave hyena, deer, horse, mammoth, hyena’s coprolites, etc. were discovered. We assume that the massive limb bones of mammoth, discovered on the floor of the tunnel, were intentionally split not by animal but by paleoanthrop. Such hypothesis can be witnessed by the lack of teeth traces on transverse fractures of large bones and massive tool (?) length of 46,5 cm that looks like pole with specially pointed end and polished hilt. Traced in the deposits of badenium this tunnel meter in diameter rather suggests the possibility of its anthropogenic appearance because such tunnel-hole is easy to defend from the inside in the case of attack predators. Blocking such small entrance by large bones or stones for a while, some could feel relatively safe. In the case of extension of the tunnel (for example, to the size of a small cave) it would need much more bones and other material for blocking of the entrance and with greater space would be more difficult to defend it. It had been also the entrance from the opposite side of that tunnel-hole (according to M. Drygant “... further on the slope ... this tunnel had the second exit on the surface, through which it was silted”). Tunnel with such plan certainly can’t be dug by cave hyena. In consideration of the complete lack of caves and rock shelters in this part of Opillia, humans in this period had to find shelter elsewhere. And such narrow tunnels, with branchy passages (?) allowed taking cover in emergency, defending effectively the entrance from the inside of to the tunnel and, if necessary, withdraw, leaving to the surface through the opposite entrance. Discovered tunnel with fossil bones of vertebrates of Khorosno-Vynyava can be dated to the period not later than transition from Late to Middle Pleistocene. Such suggestion can be indirectly witnessed by complete fossilization of bones from tunnel Khorosno-Vynyava, which is absent on bones, discovered in Vynyava several decades earlier.
Authors and Affiliations
Mykola Bandrivs’kyi
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP327875
- DOI -
- Views 125
- Downloads 0
SHAMANS IN THE DEER HUNTING SOCIETIES
The cult of the deer had very important significance in the ideology of primeval peoples of Eurasian forest zone. This cult included myths and rituals, connected with the worship of a deer or man-deer – the ancestor of p...
“Love Ukraine not by the stream of noisy and bustling phrases but by the quiet and tireless work”... To the anniversary of Dmytro Pavliv
The article devoted to the anniversary of Ukrainian archaeologist Dmytro Pavliv.
BURIAL ARTEFACTS AND FUNERAL RITUAL OF ANCIENT SLAVS IN THE TYSA-DANUBE BASIN
The paper is devoted to the burial artefacts and funeral ritual of ancient Slavs in the basin of the Tysa and Danube. This was a whole set of actions related to the tribute to ancestors and care of them in the afterlife....
Войнаровський В.М. Промисли та допоміжні ремесла населення півдня Східної Європи І–ХІІІ ст. (археологічне відображення та інтерпретація). Львів, 2014. 438 с. (review by Ihor Voznyj)
It is a review of the monograph of Ukrainian archaeologist Victor Vojnarovs'kyi "Промисли та допоміжні ремесла населення півдня Східної Європи І–ХІІІ ст. (археологічне відображення та інтерпретація). Львів, 2014. 438 с."...
STONE CROSS FROM ZVENYHOROD: HISTORY, MORPHOLOGY AND RESTORATION
Results of the restoration of the stone cross, which is located in Zvenyhorod (Pustomyty district, L’viv region) on the wayside of the road towards Sholomyya are presented at the article. Under the layers of lime whitewa...