Finds of megafauna remains with traces of Paleolithic man in the West Siberian plain southeast

Purpose. In the southeast of the West Siberian Plain, along the riverbanks, we find a number of alluvial sites of the Pleistocene megafauna remains which contain many hundreds and thousands of fossil bones. Some of the bones are marked by traces of large predator’s teeth or other posthumous changes. However, traces of the influence of the Paleolithic man on the bones of Pleistocene animals are extremely rare. One location where they were found is Krasny Yar. Among the remnants from the washed Kazantsevo floodplain deposits, two bones, namely a distal half of a humeral bison and a horn of a moral, have some traces of treatment by the Paleolithic man. Currently, these are the only artifacts that directly indicate the existence of a Paleolithic human population on the territory of the Novosibirsk Ob region in the Kazantsevo interglacial (about 100 thousand years ago). Experimental use-wear study of these traces gives us grounds to determine their genesis. The characteristic polishing observed is evidently formed as a result of intense contact of the bone surface with a soft, elastic organic material, such as skin. The peculiarity of the dislocation on the surface of the bone and the nature of the distribution of the tracks makes us confidently assume that the artifact could have been a «kneader» used to soften leather belts. The degree of wear of the tool is estimated as relatively intense. Results. Traces of multiple shallow cutting are revealed on the medial side of the distal end. Numerous non-parallel linear traces of different depth left by a cutting tool are kept well on the studied surface. Possible reasons for the formation of these tracks might be the use of the bone investigated as an «anvil» or, more precisely, a «cutting table» for cutting skin. It is possible that the same straps that were warmed up on the caudal surfaces of the medial and lateral epicondyle of the distal end were left on the same bones. Some traces of cutting are revealed on the supra orbital part of the antler of the moral. Our analysis of the tracks showed that they could have been left by a planer knife while working with still soft, flexible horn. Judging by the nature of the dislocation of the cuts, we assume that the work with the horn was interrupted and incomplete for some unknown reasons. Conclusion. It is known that the population of the Paleolithic man in the Upper Ob river area during the Kazantsevo time was, undoubtedly, extremely small. With this in view, the chances of finding some remnants of man in the channel alluvium are almost equal to zero. Such a discovery is possible only as a result of incredible luck.