Core-Shaped Tools from the Early Pleistocene Deposits at Bairaki, Moldova

Core-Shaped Tools from the Early Pleistocene Deposits at Bairaki,
Moldova

doi:10.17746/1563-0110.2023.51.3.009-016

N.K. Anisyutkin
Institute for the History of Material Culture, Russian Academy of Sciences, Dvortsovaya nab. 18, St. Petersburg, 191186, Russia

This article deals with a series of core-shaped tools from Early Pleistocene deposits (layers 5 and 6) of the stratified site of Bairaki, located on high above-floodplain terrace VII of the Dniester, in the outskirts of Dubasari, Moldova. The site was discovered in 2010 by the joint Russian-Moldovan archaeological expedition and excavated in 20112014. The interdisciplinary studies revealed six layers with Early Paleolithic artifacts. Two lowest layers (5 and 6) are associated with the channel alluvium of terrace VII. The paleomagnetic studies have shown that these deposits correspond to the Jaramillo episode of the Matuyama epoch. The lithic industry of layers 5 and 6 are comparable to the Late Oldowan. Most artifacts are made of poor quality flint; there are also pebble tools made of non-silicic rocks. Most lithics are small. A distinct series of core-shaped end-scrapers and side-scrapers made on residual cores (9 spec.), fragments (1 spec.), and flakes (5 spec.) is identified. All these tools are robust and had been processed in a similar way. They are made of pebbles no larger than 6 cm. The steep working edges of all implements in this series are heavily retouched. Similar items have been recorded from the Early Paleolithic materials of the region. Such tools were widespread in the Early Paleolithic of Africa and Eurasia. The earliest pieces were found in the Bed I assemblage of the Olduvai Gorge.

Keywords: Southwestern part of Eastern Europe, Moldova, Transnistria, Bairaki site, Early Paleolithic, coreshaped tools