Early UpperPaleolithic in Eastern Europe and Implications for the Dispersal of Homo-Sapien

[bioblitzkrieg]

Early Upper Paleolithic in Eastern Europe and Implications for the Dispersal of Modern Humans

M. V. Anikovich,1 A. A. Sinitsyn,1 John F. Hoffecker,2* Vance T. Holliday,3 V. V. Popov,4 S. N. Lisitsyn,1 Steven L. Forman,5 G. M. Levkovskaya,1 G. A. Pospelova,6 I. E. Kuz'mina,7 N. D. Burova,1 Paul Goldberg,8 Richard I. Macphail,9 Biagio Giaccio,10 N. D. Praslov1

Radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence dating and magnetic stratigraphy indicate Upper Paleolithic occupation—probably representing modern humans—at archaeological sites on the Don River in Russia 45,000 to 42,000 years ago. The oldest levels at Kostenki underlie a volcanic ash horizon identified as the Campanian Ignimbrite Y5 tephra that is dated elsewhere to about 40,000 years ago. The occupation layers contain bone and ivory artifacts, including possible figurative art, and fossil shells imported more than 500 kilometers. Thus, modern humans appeared on the central plain of Eastern Europe as early as anywhere else in northern Eurasia.

1 Institute of the History of Material Culture, Russian Academy of Sciences, 191186 St. Petersburg, Russia.
2 Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA.
3 Departments of Anthropology and Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA.
4 Kostenki Museum-Preserve, 396355 Kostenki, Voronezh region, Voronezh, Russia.
5 Luminescence Dating Research Laboratory, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois, Chicago, IL 60607, USA.
6 Institute of Earth Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, 123995 Moscow, Russia.
7 Zoological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, 199034 St. Petersburg, Russia.
8 Department of Archaeology, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
9 Institute of Archaeology, University College London, London WC1H 0PY, UK.
10 Istituto di Geologia Ambientale e Geoingegneria–CNR, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, 00133 Rome, Italy.