Use-wear analysis of the stone and bone industry of Kostenki-9 site (based on material of 2006-2007 field research)

Purpose. The article discusses the results of a use-wear analysis of artifacts from the Kostenki 9 site (Biriutchii log). The site is located in the Middle Don River valley on the southwest of the Russian Plain. Kostenki 9 is related to the group of Paleolithic sites in the Kostenki-Borshchevo locality. Our investigation indicates that paleoeconomy of the local inhabitants was based on the strategies of high specialization.Results. The authors highlight the main types of stone implements and the main technological methods of production. The inhabitants of the site mainly used chalk flint. Knapping technique is prismatic, the main type of workpiece is a blade. For the secondary processing of blanks, site's inhabitants most often used steep and semi-steep dull retouching. Less commonly, flat unilateral or bilateral, marginal, deeply protruding onto the blade’s dorsal surface. On the basis of use-wear analysis, as well as some experiments, the authors came to the following conclusion: the stone industry of the site has Gravettian features. However, it does not have pronounced diagnostic forms.Conclusion. The primary type of activity revealed at the Kostenki 9 site is butchering of animal carcasses. Studied use-wear traces on the stone inventory support this conclusion. The second activity represents wood processing. The ancient inhabitants of the Kostenki 9 made the wooden shafts for the darts and spears. Analysis of bone implements revealed several exciting traits. Inhabitants possessed all the basic techniques of bone processing: making grooves and cutting along the circumference. The collection does not include any tools that can be interpreted as hunting bone weapons. This thesis confirms the assumption that the inhabitants of the Kostenki 9 site used wood for tool-making, while the bones and ivory were kept for production of non-utilitarian objects. The cultural identity of the assemblage raises questions. The closest are lithic collections from the Gravettian sites Borshchevo 5 and Kostenki 8.