Research of the Holocene deposits in Strashnaya cave in 2017

In the field season of 2017, the archaeological team of IAET SB RAS continued excavations in the central part of the Strashnaya Cave located in the Northwestern Altai. Two Holocene layers were studied in the western part of the cave at the entrance zone of the gallery. As a result, unconsolidated deposits were excavated on the area of 4 m2 to the depth of 0. 65 m. Two lithological layers have been identified and three archaeological horizons have been discovered. Findings from two upper horizons (undecorated pottery fragments, bone arrowheads, small bronze and stone adornments) have been tentatively correlated with different periods of the Middle Ages. Decorated pottery fragments from the lower horizon are associated with the Afanasievo culture. The parallels to the findings from Strashnaya Cave can be found in the collections of artifacts from other archaeological sites in the Altai (Denisova, Okladnikova, and Kaminnaya Caves).