SETTING THE STAGE: ENEOLITHIC AND BRONZE AGE LITHIC INDUSTRY MARKERS IN THE MOUNTAIN-FOREST TRANS-URALS

Abstract

The authors propose to discuss the methodology of searching for the defi nitive indicators of flaking techniques of the Eneolithic — Bronze Age in the mountain-forest Trans-Urals. The methodology is based on a step-by-step cross-referencing analysis of raw materials, technological and morphological characteristics of stone artifacts. The multilayer settlement Shaitanskoe 4–6 stone tools assemblage (the Kirovgrad district, Sverdlovsk Oblast) served as the main resource for the analysis. Main stages of the site’s populating correlated with the Eneolithic and the Bronze Age (Cherkaskul culture). Arrowheads were chosen as the key category of artifacts. This choice was based on both the large number of these artifacts (more than 100 items) and their fairly reliable cultural and chronological verification by the well-known interments and single-layer sites of the Urals and the adjacent territories. The Eneolithic flaking technique demonstrated a pronounced variability of tools. Pressure flaking technique used for obtaining blanks of a certain type (blades, microblades, and flakes of preset shapes and sizes) formed the lithic industry basis. During the Bronze Age, the emphasis shifted towards biface-production-oriented striking and counter striking knapping techniques. One of the Bronze Age lithic industry markers was a significant amount of characteristic waste, defected and good blanks as opposed to a small group of two-sided retouched tools with a high level of standardization and manufacturing quality (arrowheads, knives of an asymmetrical triangular shape with an arc-shaped side blade, scrapers of geometric shapes, etc.). The Eneolithic population preferred siliceous and clay shales, high-quality homogeneous jaspers, some types of chalcedony of gray and yellow, homogeneous flint of greenish and greenish-gray shades, and rhyolites of similar colors. During the Bronze Age, most popular materials were mottled flint of mediocre quality, siliceous shales of dark shades, siliceous quartz and chalcedony of light tones, and some varieties of jasper.