Yuri V. Dublyansky^1,*, Pavel A. Kosintsev^2,**, Vladimir N. Shirokov^3,***, Christoph Spotl^1,****

¹Institute of Geology, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
²Institute of Plant and Animal Ecology, Ural Branch of the RAS, Yekaterinburg, Russia
³Institute of History and Archaeology, Ural Branch of the RAS, Yekaterinburg, Russia

*E-mail: yuri.dublyansky@uibk.ac.at
**E-mail: kpa@ipae.uran.ru
***E-mail: hvn-58@yandex.ru
****E-mail: christoph.spoetl@uibk.ac.at

Keywords: Ignatievskaya cave, radiocarbon dating, Paleolithic, parietal art, cave sanctuary.

The paper reports new AMS radiocarbon dates obtained on charcoal and bone samples from the cultural layer in the aphotic zone of the Ignatievskaya cave (Southern Urals). Samples were collected from a pit located under the parietal art executed with red ochre. Four dates on the charcoal from the upper part of the cultural layer yielded consistent and dense age distribution (16.3–17.4 cal. ka BP). This period corresponds to the time of the creation and functioning of cave sanctuary. A charcoal sample collected 5–9 cm beneath the pronounced dark layer in the cultural layer yielded the age of 27.8–28.3 cal. ka BP, suggesting earlier human visits to the cave. Two composite bone samples from cultural layer gave discordant (too old) ages; this is explained by turbation of cave sediments that occurred prior to human visits.

DOI: 10.31857/S013161170015451-5