Translation. Region: Russian Federal
Source: Novosibirsk State University – Novosibirsk State University –
The age of the archaeological site “Stoyanka Solnechny” (Krasnoyarsk) was determined by scientists from the Center for Collective Use “Accelerator Mass Spectrometry of the Novosibirsk State University and the Novosibirsk Scientific Center”. Radiocarbon analysis was performed on the bone remains of herbivores, which were discovered during large-scale rescue excavations conducted by researchers from Krasnoyarsk Geoarchaeology LLC and ANO “Archaeological Research of Siberia”. Based on the stratigraphic position of the finds in the deposits, types and technologies of manufacturing stone tools, they determined that the ancient hunters’ camp dates back to the early Holocene, namely the Mesolithic era, the general chronology of which is determined within 8-12 thousand years ago. The results obtained by Novosibirsk scientists using the accelerator mass spectrometry method came as a surprise to them – it turned out that the monument is 10 thousand years older and is not a continuation of the Paleolithic traditions in the subsequent geological era, as was previously believed, but a reflection of the earliest stages of the formation of the Afontovo culture. The results of the study were published in the International Peer-Reviewed Scientific Journal “Stratum plus. Archaeology and cultural anthropology”, which is published by the University “Higher Anthropological School”.
The Afontovskaya culture is an archaeological culture of the Upper Paleolithic (20-12 thousand years ago) on the Yenisei. It is characterized by stone tools on pebbles and flake chips, a developed technology for producing microplates, and a variety of tools made of horn and bone. The culture received its name from the archaeological site of Afontova Gora, a group of sites on the left bank of the Yenisei, within the boundaries of the modern city of Krasnoyarsk.
— We received 12 samples of bone material and analyzed them for the content of the rare isotope 14C using accelerator mass spectrometry. Sample preparation was carried out in advance — collagen was isolated, graphitization and subsequent measurements were carried out on a Micadas accelerator mass spectrometer. We analyzed the bone remains of herbivores that could have been the prey of ancient hunters who regularly used this site for a long time. The samples mainly included bones and teeth of reindeer, a tubular bone of a roe deer, a phalanx of a fossil horse, two bones of a fossil bison and one bone of a bird — a corncrake, which was found in a pit trap. The age of the finds varied due to the fact that the main cultural layer was partially disturbed and the site itself included evidence of ancient activity and natural events of various eras. The most ancient bones were those of fossil bisons — they were 29-30 thousand years old, and the “youngest” were those of roe deer — 1600-1900 years old. The most numerous were the bones of reindeer, whose age averaged 19-21 thousand years. We had no difficulties in studying the samples and interpreting the data obtained, but the results were unexpected for the research staff of the ANO “Archaeological Research of Siberia,” said Alexey Petrozhitsky, engineer at the UMS NSU-NNC Collective Use Center and research fellow at the G.I. Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics.
The archaeological site “Solnechny Parking Lot” is located in the Yenisei Valley on the northern outskirts of Krasnoyarsk within the city limits. The ancient site got its name from the Solnechny microdistrict, on whose territory it is located. It is currently being actively built up, housing complexes and urban infrastructure facilities are being erected.
“Solnechny Parking Lot” was discovered in 2017 by a detachment of OOO NPO “Archeological Design and Surveying” during a survey of the site of the planned construction of a highway. In 2019 and 2020, a detachment of OOO “Krasnoyarsk Geoarcheology” carried out security and rescue excavation work on the monument within the boundaries of the territory allocated for the construction of the road. The territory of the monument was significantly affected by anthropogenic activity. In the early 2000s, there was an arable field here. Ten years later, due to the expansion of the urban development zone, construction infrastructure facilities appeared on this territory, quarrying and embankment construction began. Also, the upper cover deposits over the entire area were disturbed during terrain planning, laying and operation of field roads. Most of it was covered with man-made deposits from fill and redeposited soil. Over a large area of the monument, artifacts were moved from their original position and mixed up, which significantly complicated the work of researchers and the dating of the monument.
— An important feature of the Solnechny Parking lot is its location. Archaeologists traditionally look for Paleolithic sites on river banks, and this site is located about 7 kilometers from the Yenisei and there are no small rivers nearby. Despite the presence of individual such sites, this was unusual for us. We were interested in understanding how Stone Age people moved around the area and what places they inhabited. This was a campsite arranged on some unknown hunting routes of Paleolithic hunters. People came here periodically and their stay at the site was short-lived – despite the fact that the excavations affected significant areas, we were unable to find the remains or even traces of permanent dwellings or any objects indicating long-term residence in this place. We also did not find human remains. From all this, the conclusion was made: people did not live here permanently. They came to the camp to process hunting trophies, as well as other economic activities, the remains of which, in fact, are garbage, we recorded there. Unfortunately, it is difficult to say for sure why they were attracted to this particular place. Perhaps the key to the solution will be further research on new archaeological sites in this part of the Krasnoyarsk archaeological region – said Dmitry Gurulev, senior researcher at the ANO “Archaeological Research of Siberia”.
Initially, archaeologists determined the age of this monument in the range of 9-12 thousand years. However, among the supposed finds of this period there were also later artifacts. For example, a pitfall trap. According to radiocarbon dating conducted later, its age was about 6 thousand years. Also found were an arrowhead, the so-called srezen, from the Middle Ages, bullets and a coin from the 19th century. However, these artifacts were isolated and uninformative, indicating that in subsequent times people no longer visited this place regularly and systematically until it was occupied by the modern city of Krasnoyarsk.
The contents of the Solnechny Site artifact collection were quite typical for the Afontovo archaeological culture sites. It consisted mainly of stone tools that were used by Paleolithic people for all basic household needs. Quite simple tools were made from river pebbles – choppers, hammers, planers. These finds were combined with objects made using more complex and advanced technologies, such as squeezing stone splitting and obtaining micro-plate chips that were used as replaceable blades in composite cutting tools. These small and thin stone plates 6-7 mm wide were inserted into grooves of horn or wooden bases. When such an inserted blade became dull or split, it was replaced with a new one. Also among the finds were stone tools used to select such grooves – cutters. Since the site was a hunting site, archaeologists found various scrapers and piercers here, which were probably used to process skins. In total, more than 1,700 stone objects and about 1,000 fragments of animal bones were found at the excavation site, among which the remains of reindeer, which was the main object of hunting, predominate.
-The dating of the monument, established by the scientists of the Central Committee of the SMS NSU-NNC, was a complete surprise for us. And for us these results are important for three reasons. Firstly, earlier we attributed the sunny parking to the early Golocene, but it turned out that it was much older and belongs to the very origin of the Athos culture of the upper Paleolithic. We evaluated the age of the object on the basis of his position in the stratigraphic context. In this case, he lay almost on the surface, at the minimum depth of about 20-30 cm. Of course, the depth of the occurrence depends on the type of deposits and the features of their accumulation, but usually the cultural layers of the Paleolithic are much deeper, in some cases at a depth of several meters. Here we are faced with a different situation, and now we can extrapolate the experience gained on other monuments in further excavation work. Secondly, the sunny parking is one of the few monuments with a reliably confirmed age, which shows us the stage of the formation of the Athos archaeological culture. Thanks to this, we know that at the very early stage of its existence, it was already formed in the form in which we know it according to later evidence: a set of stone guns and features of hunting fishing remained practically unchanged, namely, hunting for the northern deer. From all this, we can conclude that this archaeological culture was quite homogeneous throughout its existence, which is very important. Thirdly, it was important for us to explore a monument remote from a river network that did not have a clear binding to the landscape. Similar monuments are present in the vicinity of Krasnoyarsk, but today they are known only by separate random finds, and the sunny parking is the only object that was excavated on a wide area of more than 3000 m2, and therefore may act as a standard in such research, Dmitry Gurulev explained.
The specialists of the ANO “Archaeological Research of Siberia” have been working together with the UMS NSU-NNC Collective Use Center for years. Every year they send several dozen samples to determine their age using an accelerator mass spectrometer. Krasnoyarsk archaeologists intend to continue their joint work in the future, since there is a constant need to determine the age of new archaeological sites excavated annually, and the ability to conduct this kind of research in Russia is only available at the UMS NSU-NNC Collective Use Center.
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