Darya K. Eskova
Institute of Archaeology RAS, Moscow, Russia (bdims@mail.ru)
Keywords: Mesolithic, Ienevo culture, technological analysis, lithic industry, post-Ahrensburgian technocomplex.
The paper describes lithic technology of the Ienevo Early Mesolithic culture of the Volga-Oka river basin on the evidence of the Belyi Kolodets 1 workshop site located near the outcrops of carboniferous flint and the multifunctional Belivo 6B campsite away from lithic raw material sources. Operational chains aimed at blade, flake and axe production were revealed. Blades were produced mainly from uni-polar and unifacial cores with the use of two techniques of flaking, i.e. direct percussion with either hard mineral or soft organic hammers. Core preparation was usually limited to the creation of a platform and frontal and distal crests or the use of the natural shape of a nodule. Techniques of flaking zone preparation were restricted to platform reducing, abrasion and occasional coarse grinding of cornice. A limited number of ways of correcting flaking defects was one of the main reasons of the low productivity of flaking at Ienevo sites. Discoide cores were used for flake production by direct percussion with a hard mineral hammer. The façonnage of axes was produced uni- and bi-facially. The selection of a raw material according to its shape and dimensions was of prime importance in operational chains aimed at blade and axe production. Specific features of blade production revealed at Ienevo Mesolithic culture sites are quite similar to those of the Ahrensburgian Upper Paleolithic culture, which is probably due to the continuity of technological traditions.
