Findings

1 Provenience. We examined the Kurla I collection on September 28-29, 2000. The 72-piece assemblage makes up 0.2% of our 8813-piece grand total (Table A1.1, site 13). All 72 pieces were excavated from the third cultural horizon in 1976.

2  Species. Out of 72 Kurla I pieces, the only species is reindeer (Table A1.2, site 13). This frequency is many times greater than the pooled assemblage average. Our Kurla sample is deficient in all other animal groups.

3  Skeletal elements. The most common skeletal elements in the 72 Kurla pieces are: toe (30.5%), mandible (16.7%), scapula (12.5%), metapodial (11.1%), antler-horn (4.2%), and rib (4.2%) (Table A1.3, site 13). Compared with the pooled assemblage, Kurla I has more mandibles, scapulae, metapodials, and toes; and fewer ribs, humeri, long bones, and unknown pieces.

4  Age. There are no sub-adults in the 72 KurlaIpieces (Table A1.4, site 13). Compared with the pooled assemblage average for sub-adults, Kurla I has a deficiency that may reflect the time of year when this reindeer assemblage was formed.

5  Completeness. The 72 piece Kurla I assemblage is relatively incomplete as it has only 1.4% whole bones, 62.5% with one anatomical end, and 36.1% with no anatomical ends (Table A1.5, site 13). Compared with the pooled assemblage averages, Kurla I is in about the same general condition.

6  Maximum size. The above incompleteness is mirrored in the much reduced size of the 72 Kurla I pieces, the mean of which is 4.3 cm, with a range of 2.1 cm to 9.5 cm (Table A1.6, site 13). Compared with the pooled assemblage the individual Kurla I pieces are small. We infer this to mean maximal nutrient extraction. Comparison ofthe maximum size values of Kurla I with the undamaged long bone lengths provided by Vera Gromova (1950: table 27) shows that not even the upper limit reaches the lower end ofthe undamaged range.

7  Damage shape. The most common forms of damage in the 72-piece Kurla I set are: phalanx butts (29.2%), long bone fragments (25.0%), cracked open phalanges (12.5%), and mandibular condyles (6.9%) (Table A1.7, site 13). Compared with the pooled assemblage, Kurla I has fewer long bone flakes and splinters and undamaged bones; and more cracked-open phalanges, phalanx butts, and condyles. There are no ribs.

8  Color. Almost all (98.6%) of the 72 Kurla I pieces are ivory colored. The 1.4% black pieces are burned (Table A1.8, site 13). Compared with the pooled assemblage averages, Kurla I has more ivory colored and black pieces, but no other colors.

9  Preservation. As with color, almost all (95.8%) of the 72 Kurla I pieces are ivory hard. Only 4.2% are chalky (Table A1.9, site 13). Compared with the pooled assemblage, Kurla I has more ivory, and fewer chalky pieces.

10  Perimortem breakage. Every one of the 72 Kurla I pieces has perimortem breakage (Table A1.10, site 13). This is greater than the average in the pooled assemblage. Intensive carcass processing is evident in the Kurla assemblage, as it was in Bolshoi Yakor I, the other deer kill site in the northern Lake Baikal region.

11  Postmortem breakage. None ofthe 72 Kurla I pieces exhibits postmortem breakage (Table A1.11, site 13). This is much less than the average for the pooled assemblage. Postmortem breakage was very low also at Bolshoi Yakor I (2.7%).

12  End-hollowing. There are no examples of end-hollowing in the 72 Kurla I pieces (Table A1.12, site 13). This is less than the frequency in the pooled assemblage, but, as previously pointed out, very much like Bolshoi Yakor I (0.004%).

13  Notching. Out of the 72 Kurla I pieces, two (2.8%) have notching. Both have two notches (Table A1.13, site 13). The low frequency of Kurla I notching is five times less than the pooled assemblage average. Bolshoi Yakor I has about twice the number of notched pieces, but all have only one or two notches per piece.

14  Tooth scratches. There are only two (2.8%) of 71 Kurla I pieces with tooth scratches. One has one scratch, the other has more than seven (Table A1.14, site 13). This frequency is seven times less than that of the pooled assemblage average (20.6%).

15  Tooth dints. Three (4.2%) of the 72 Kurla I pieces have tooth dinting. The three pieces have two, three, and five dints (Table A1.15, site 13). This frequency of dinting is six times less than the pooled assemblage average.

16  Pseudo-cuts. Kurla I has one piece with two pseudo-cuts (Table A1.16, site 13). The pooled assemblage average is three times greater. Pseudo-cuts, along with the previous four indicators of carnivore activity, suggest that there was some, but not much, carnivore presence at Kurla I.

17  Abrasions. One (1.4%) of the 72 Kurla I pieces has abrasions. The abrasion contains more than seven striations (Table A1.17, site 13). This frequency of abrasions is almost exactly the same as the pooled assemblage average.

18  Polishing. Slightly more than half (51.4%) of the 72 Kurla I pieces exhibit polishing: 18.1%end, 1.4%middle, and31.9% end-middle (Table A1.17, site 13). The average total polishing in the pooled assemblage is not greatly different from Kurla I.

19  Embedded fragment. The occurrence of embedded fragments in the 72 Kurla I pieces is unexpectedly high (6.9%). Of these, the number of embedded fragments per piece ranges from two to more than seven (Table A1.19, site 13). The pooled assemblage average is slightly less.

20  Tooth wear. Kurla I has no teeth for wear assessment.

21-24 Acid erosion, rodent gnawing, insect damage, human bone. None of the 72 Kurla I pieces shows any sign of these considerations.

25  Cut marks. As with completeness and maximum size, the Kurla I assemblage shows much processing by its large amount of bone cutting. Out of the 72 pieces, 34.7% have from one to more than seven cut marks per piece. The most fTequent number of cuts is more than seven (11.1%) per piece (Table A1.25, site 13). In contrast, the pooled assemblage average for cut marks is more than four times less. In fact, Kurla I has the greatest frequency of cut marks in all of our assemblages.

26  Chop marks. As with cut marks, completeness, and maximum size, the number of chopped pieces in the 72-piece Kurla I assemblage is very high (30.6%), suggesting extensive processing, and again, the highest occurrence in our study. The number of chop marks per piece ranges from one to more than seven, with one chop per piece being the most common number (Table A1.26, site 13). There are more than five times the number of chopped Kurla I pieces than in the pooled assemblage average.