Early Upper Paleolithic tubular beads from the main chamber of Denisova cave

The article presents the results of a technological and functional analysis of bone tubular beads from the Upper Paleolithic layer 11 in the Main Chamber of Denisova Cave, northwestern Altai. They belong to one of the most widespread categories of Early Upper Paleolithic ornaments from the cave. The technological sequence in their production has been reconstructed. It included several stages: selection of blank, planing, production of preform by truncating the epiphyses, decorating the preform, application of marks for cutting the preform into short tubes, sawing or cutting, fragmentation by cuts, removal of cancellous bone, and alignment of incision sites. Given the absence of blanks or diagnostic production waste in the technological context of the complex, tubular beads were probably manufactured outside the excavated area of the Main Chamber. The analysis revealed traces of wear caused by contact with clothing or human skin and by threading on a string or thin strap. Tubular beads were widely used by the Upper Paleolithic inhabitants of the cave as elements of clothing, necklaces and, probably, bracelets. The closest parallels to tubular beads from the Altai are Aurignacian ornaments of a similar age, but widely separated in space (Western, Central and Eastern Europe).