Background

Proskuryakova Cave (named by Ovodov after Pavel Stepanovich Proskuryakov, the first director of the Krasnoyarsk Historical Musuem and explorer of Khakasia caves) is located in the middle Yenisei River basin at 54°27' N, 89°28' E, in the foothills of the eastern slopes of Kuznek Ala-tau, above the Bely Iyus River. It is not far from the Malaya Seeya site, and 1km upstream of Yefremkino, the administrative headquarters for the Shirinsky district of Khakasia. The triangular-shaped entry to the south-facing limestone cave is a nearly vertical 70 m above the Bely Iyus River. At the mouth, the cave is 3.5 m high and 4.2 m wide, and its back wall is about 14 m deep. Archival records show that cave sites in the Bely and Cherny Iyus River valleys were being noted as early as 1799. In 1888, these caves were investigated by P. S. Proskuryakov, an archaeologist fTom St. Petersburg University. He located 18 caves in the valley of the middle course of the Iyus River, and made test excavations in eight (Proskuryakov 1889, 1890), although it cannot be determined from his articles if he tested the cave that Ovodov named in Proskuryakov’s honor.

Bones of extinct animals and stone blades on the floor of Proskuryakova Cave were first noticed by Novokuznetsk speleologists S. A. Rybakov and R. A. Tsetel. Learning of their discovery, Ovodov began excavations in 1975 with a team of workers for two field seasons, establishing that the five stone blades were stratigraphically younger than the time when the bone accumulations occurred (Okladnikov etal. 1975, Ovodov 1975). The 40 cm thick fragmented bone mass occurred at the border zone between wet and dry sections in the remote back part of the cave. We examined the collection in 1999 and visited the site on July 21, 2000.

Vasili’ev et al. (2002:521) list four carbon-14 dates based on bone that range fTom >40 000 BP to 40 770 BP. Lab reports given to Ovodov have dates of 46 000 BP based on rhinoceros bone (SO AN-848), and three dates based on bison bone of 40 690 ±1150 (SO AN-1571), 40 595±875 (SO AN-1518), and 40 770± 1075 (SO AN-1519).

Ovodov’s team turned up remains of at least 47 species, of which there were 25 large - and medium-sized mammals based on 530 pieces. Some joint-sharing pieces were deposited together, indicating articulation was retained after discarding. Hence, the cave taphocenosis was primary, not secondary as at the Krasny Yar river deposits. The taphonomic agency for accumulation was cave hyena and other carnivore activity, as evidenced by 666 of 819 pieces (81.3%) having some manner of carnivore damage (Ovodov et al. 1992a). Ovodov’s identifications include: hare (Lepus timidus), marmot (Marmota baibacina), beaver (Castor fiber), gray wolf (Canis lupus), fox (Vulpes vulpes), brown bear (Ursus arctos), badger (Meles meles), wolverine (Gulo gulo), lynx (Felis lynx), ounce, snow leopard (Uncia uncia), cave lion (Panthera spelaea), cave hyena (Crocuta spelaea), Asiatic wild ass, onager (Equus hemionus), horse (Equus cf. caballus), rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis), mam-mut (Mammonteus primigenius), red deer (Cervus elaphus), moose, elk (Alces alces), saiga (Saiga tatarica), wild sheep (Ovis ammon), goat, ibex, markhor (Capra sibirca), bison (Bison priscus), and wild yak (Poephagus baicalensis).