Bone tools and ornaments from the early upper Paleolithic deposits in the main chamber of Denisova cave: 2016 collection

The paper presents the results provided by technical research focused on bone tools and ornaments recovered from layer 11 in the Main Chamber of Denisova Cave in 2016. The manufacture of ornaments involved the use of a great variety of materials: soft gemstones, tubular bones of animals and birds, teeth of herbivorous and carnivorous mammals, ivory, as well as shells from freshwater clams. Production techniques employed for manufacturing bone tools and nonutilitarian objects included several stages: selecting a raw material; obtaining a half-finished product; processing by shaping, scraping, grinding, drilling and polishing. A number of processing methods (grinding, drilling, cutting, polishing), being specific for the early Upper Paleolithic period, were utilized in this industry for producing objects from bone and ivory, as well as for soft stones working. Bone tools are represented by a point and fragments of needle cases or by hafts. According to their function, the ornaments from layer 11 can be classified into various types: flat and dimensional beads; holed beads; pendants with the circular grooves or with one drilled hole; plaques with two holes; an ornamented plate. The use-wear analysis has enabled the identification of the wear traces on the surfaces of the studied products, suggesting utilization and indicating the long-term use. The abundance, morphological and functional variability of the ornaments from layer 11 reflect an exceptional diversity of the methods used for personal ornamentation, implying the existence of preferences and traditions in the use of these objects.