Findings

1 Provenience. All of the 771 Kaminnaya pieces we studied came from the deep talus fronting the cave entrance (Fig. 3.31). The stratigraphy in this area includes modern, Neolithic, Paleolithic, and natural geological materials. As much as possible, the Neolithic horizons were excluded from our study; however, ancient stratigraphic disturbances and post-excavation loss of field bag labels and unlabeled bags contributed to our decision to treat all our studied pieces as one temporal and spatial unit. Certainly the vast majority of pieces are from Upper Paleolithic times. Where we were able to make stratigraphic comparisons, we found no meaningful differences in the types of perimortem damage, and in most instances these comparisons lacked species, age, and skeletal

Fig. 3.34 Odyssey. Chopping a morel deer leg. Nicolai Ovodov is chopping a leg of deer by firelight for the Kaminnaya camp’s special Saturday evening meal. Sergei Markin obtained the freshly butchered meat in Karakol village, whose residents manage a vast morel deer farm, fenced by high barbed-wire, in the nearby mountains. The meat was boiled in spring water, potatoes, salt, and onion into a watery stew. Because there are so very few Paleolithic fragments of burned bone that would suggest roasting, we think that boiling like this was also the principle cooking method in ancient times. Notice that Ovodov is using a small log as a chopping block, also possibly done in Paleolithic times. The iron axe head is exactly the same shape and size as one the senior author excavated fTom the Russian period of an archaeological site in the eastern Aleutians of Alaska. It is illustrated in Turner and Turner (1974) (CGT color Kaminnaya 7-10-99:unnumbered).

Fig. 3.35 Yuri Grichan. Co-discoverer of the Kaminnaya cultural deposits, Grichan (right) has long been ill and unable to continue the arduous excavation work that he conducted for several years at Kaminnaya Cave. In this photograph with the senior author at the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Grichan had largely recovered from the stroke-related paralysis he suffered for several years. He died in the winter of 2012 (OVP color IAE 6-23-06:x).

Element information due to small piece size. Our Kaminnaya assemblage makes up 8.7% of our 9360-piece grand total (Table A1.1, site 9).

2 Species. Of the 352 Kaminnaya bones studied by Irina Foronova (Derevianko et al. 1998c, 1998d), 17 species were identified: gray wolf (Canis lupus), fox (Vulpes vulpes), bear (Ursus sp.), badger (Meles meles), cave hyena (Crocuta spelaea), cave lion (Panthera spelaea), horse (Equus cf. caballus), an Asiatic wild ass (onager) (Equus hemionus), rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis), red deer (Cervus elaphus), roe deer, roe (buck) (Capreolus capreolus), moose, elk (Alces alces), bison (Bison priscus), wild yak (Poephagus baicalensis), saiga antelope (Saiga tatarica), goat, ibex, markhor (Capra sibirica), and wild sheep (Ovis ammon). In Ovodov’s (1997b) view the assemblage is quite a typical “soup set” of Paleolithic hunters of the Altai, as well as of cave hyenas who “dine in their underground canteens.”

Of the 771 Kaminnaya pieces we studied, the most commonly identified groups are: indeterminable (71.4%), big mammal (8.1%), and horse (3.6%) (Table A1.2, site 9). Compared with the pooled assemblage averages, Kaminnaya has fewer bear, bison, gazelle, goat-sheep, mammoth, and reindeer, and twice the number of indeterminable pieces. Skeletal element breakage is severe in Kaminnaya Cave.

3  Skeletal elements. Of 771 Kaminnaya pieces, the common skeletal elements are: long bone (37.0%), unknown (27.5%), toe (6.5%), metapodial (5.8%), mandible (3.9%), and rib (3.9%) (Table A1.3, site 9). Compared with the pooled assemblage averages, Kaminnaya has fewer mandibles, vertebrae, ribs, humeri, and more long bone and unknown elements.

4  Age. Only 2.2% of 771 Kaminnaya pieces could be identified as sub-adult (Table A1.4, site 9). Compared with the pooled assemblage, Kaminnaya has fewer sub-adults and twice as many pieces of unknown age.

5  Completeness. This variable could be assessed in 714 Kaminnaya pieces. Postmortem breakage is fairly high. There are 6.4% whole bones, 13.6% with one anatomical end, and 80.0% with no anatomical ends (Table A1.5, site 9). The pooled assemblage averages are, in the same order, 10.9%, 30.0%, and 59.1%, all of which shows that the Kaminnaya mammal assemblage is considerably damaged.

6  Maximum size. Out of 771 Kaminnaya pieces, the mean is 6.2 cm, and the range is 2.4cm to 25.0cm (Table A1.6, site 9). Compared with the pooled assemblage, Kaminnaya’s mean and range are somewhat less, indicating greater damage. Looking at the whole long bone lengths for horse provided by Vera Gromova (1950: table 27) shows that the upper range limit for Kaminnaya is generally lower than her lower range limits.

7  Damage shape. The most common forms of identifiable Kaminnaya bone damage in 557 pieces are: long bone flakes (38.4%), long bone fragments (25.7%), long bone splinters (9.7%), phalanx butts (5.2%), mostly whole (4.5%), and undamaged bone (3.8%) (Table A1.7, site 9). Compared with the pooled assemblage, Kaminnaya has more long bone flakes and long bone splinters, and fewer rib pieces and undamaged bones.

8  Color. All 771 Kaminnaya pieces could be assessed for color, the majority of which are ivory colored (96.6%) (Table A1.8, site 9). Black (burned) pieces are common (3.0%) relative to the pooled assemblage, where they constitute only 0.8% of the total.

9  Preservation. Nearly all (99.6%) of the 770 Kaminnaya pieces are ivory hard (Table A1.9, site 9). The remainder (0.4%) are chalky. Compared with the pooled assemblage averages, Kaminnaya has outstanding preservation quality.

10  Perimortem breakage. The vast majority (94.3%) of 770 Kaminnaya pieces exhibit perimortem breakage (Table A1.10, site 9). This value is greater than the pooled assemblage average.

11  Postmortem breakage. Less than 5% (4.6%) of the 767 Kaminnaya pieces have postmortem breakage (Table A1.11, site 9). This postmortem breakage value is three times less than that of the pooled assemblage.

12  End-hollowing. Out of628 Kaminnaya pieces, 1.9% have end-hollowing (Table A1.12, site 9). Compared with the pooled assemblage, Kaminnaya has less end-hollowing.

13  Notching. While the presence of end-hollowing suggests carnivore activity at Kaminnaya, the amount of notching suggests even more. Out of the 768 pieces, 10.8% have one to more than seven notches per notched piece, most of which have only one

Fig. 3.36 Kaminnaya bone damage. Equus calcaneus with 0.6 cm long pseudo-cut (1985, layer 14)

(CGT neg. IAE 6-29-00:12).

Notch (7.2%) (Table A1.13, site 9). Compared with the pooled assemblage average, Kaminnaya has only slightly less notching.

14  Tooth scratches. This unquestionable sign of carnivore perimortem activity is present in 15.6% of 763 Kaminnaya pieces (Table A1.14, site 9). Compared with the pooled assemblage average, Kaminnaya has somewhat fewer pieces with scratching, but not significantly so.

15  Tooth dints. Like tooth scratching, tooth dinting is a useful perimortem damage indicator of carnivore presence. Among the 762 Kaminnaya pieces, nearly one-quarter (24.1% ) have from one to more than seven tooth dints per piece (Table A1.15, site 9). One dint per dinted piece is most common (6.2%). Kaminnaya has nearly the same frequency of dinted pieces as the average of the pooled assemblage.

16  Pseudo-cuts (Fig. 3.36). Out of 763 Kaminnaya pieces, there are 25 (3.3%) with pseudo-cuts (Table A1.16, site 9). This frequency is slightly less than the pooled assemblage average.

17  Abrasions. As in most of our studied sites, abrasions are uncommon. Kaminnaya has in 763 pieces only 12 with abrasions (Table A1.17, site 9). This frequency (1.6%) is almost identical to the average for the pooled assemblage.

18  Polishing. A frequency of 78.3% polishing occurs in 770 Kaminnaya pieces (Table A1.18, site 9). By location it is: end (13.4%), middle (1.2%), and end-middle (63.8%). In contrast, the pooled assemblage averages are: total (66.4%), end (19.8%), middle (1.6%), and end-middle (45.1%). These values suggest that carnivore activity at Kaminnaya was substantial.

19  Embedded fragments. Out of 770 Kaminnaya pieces, 2.9% have from one to more than seven embedded fragments (Table A1.19, site 9). Compared with the pooled assemblage average, Kaminnaya has insignificantly fewer pieces with embedding.

20  Tooth wear. Kaminnaya has 23 teeth, the wear of which suggests that 30.4% were young at the time of death (Table A1.20, site 9). Compared with the pooled assemblage average for young individuals, Kaminnaya’s frequency seems reasonable.

21  Acid erosion. The frequency of acid erosion in 770 Kaminnaya pieces is 17.4% (Table A1.21, site 9). This is greater than the pooled assemblage average. It is also greater than the Razboinich’ya hyena cave frequency (7.3%), but less than that of Maly Yaloman (48.0%). As previously suggested, Kaminnaya had a substantial carnivore presence. The high frequency of acid-eroded pieces suggests that these carnivores included hyenas.

22  Rodent gnawing. Kaminnaya is one of only eight assemblages in this study to have pieces of bone that had been gnawed by rodents. Out of 771 pieces, five (0.6%) had rodent incisor chiseling marks (Table A1.22, site 9). Kaminnaya is nearly identical to the pooled assemblage average for rodent gnawing.

23  Insect damage. Even less common than rodent gnawing, insect damage occurs in only three of our assemblages. Kaminnaya has one example of insect damage (0.1%) in 769 pieces (Table A1.23, site 9).

24  Human bone. No Pleistocene human bones or teeth have so far been discovered at Kaminnaya, although a spectacular female burial has been recovered in the Neolithic deposits (Markin 2000).

25  Cut marks. The frequency of Kaminnaya pieces with cut marks is fairly high (11.4%; 88/769 pieces) (Table A1.25, site 9). The number of cut marks per cut piece ranges from one to more than seven, with more than seven being the most common number (3.6%). Compared with the pooled assemblage average, Kaminnaya has a slightly higher frequency of cutting.

26  Chop marks. Out of770 Kaminnaya pieces, 3.4% have one to more than seven chop marks, one per piece being the most common number (Table A1.26, site 9). The occurrence of chopping in Kaminnaya is slightly less than the pooled assemblage average.