MousterianHunters of the Nw Caucasus: Preliminary Results of Recent Investigations Gennady Baryshnikov Zoological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences St. Petersburg, Russia John F. Hoffecker Argonne National Laboratory Argonne, Illinois Recent investigations have produced agroup of important newMousterian sitesin the Nw Caucasus (Russia). These sites, which range in elevation from 100 to 1350 m above sea level, include I'skaya 11 (100 m), Matuzka Cave (750 m), Barakaevskaya Cave (900 m), and Mezmaiskaya Cave (1350 m). Each contains a large faunal assemblage that, in con- junction with faunal remainsexcavated earlier from II'skaya I (100 m) and Dakhovskaya Cave (500 m), constitute a rich source of information on Mousterian paleoecology in this part ofEurope. Sitesat lower elevations yield remains of mammoths and giant deer; at higher elevations, these taxa are absentbut goats and sheep are common. Steppe bison is the most common species in a majority of assemblages, and bone modification and demographic data indicatethat it was probably hunted (as opposed to scavenged) by Mousterian groups. Cave bearremains exhibit an inverse relationship to artifacts, and most probably reflect natural mortality. The economic role of mammoths is problematic; many bones and tusks may have been scavenged or collected. Introduction New research is dramaticallyenhancing our knowledge of Paleolithic settlement in the Nw Caucasus region of Russia (FIG. i). The recent discovery of Treugol'naya Cave (located near the town of Pregradnaya at 1600 m asl) has demonstrated a human presence in the region extending back into the Middle Pleistocene (Baryshnikov 1990; Go- lovanova 1990). A number of important Middle and Up- per Paleolithic sites of Late Pleistocene age have been discovered and excavated in recent years (Amirkhanov 1986; Lyubin 1977, 1989). TiHe antiquity and density of Paleolithic settlement undoubtedly reflects the rich, di- verse landscapes and mild climates of the Nw Caucasus. The focus of this review is the study of faunal remains from Middle Paleolithic, or Mousterian, sites in this part of Eastern Europe. Until the late 1970s, large faunal as- semblages from Mousterian sites in the Nw Caucasuswere known only from the open-air site of Il'skaya I near Kras- nodar, which was investigated primarilyduring the 1920s and 1930s. Il'skaya I produced a largely non-Levallois Mousterian industry characterized by the production of side-scrapers and occasional points and bifaces (Gorodtsov 1940, 1941; Zamyatnin 1934), and associated with a faunal assemblage dominated by steppe bison (Gromova 1932, 1937). Isolated Mousterian artifacts, associated with a small quantity of faunal remains, were recovered from Dakhovskaya Cave in the late 1950s (Formozov 1965: 36; Vereshchagin 1967: 94-95). During the early 1960s, two important sites in Borisovskoe Gorge on the Gubs River (Monasheskaya Cave and Gubs Shelter No. 1) were discovered and excavated (Autlev 1964; Lyubin et al. 1973). These sites shed new light on the regional Mous- terian lithic industry, which exhibits various forms of pri- mary technology (discoidal, Levallois, and prismaticcores) and tools (side-scrapers, denticulates, and end-scrapers), but yielded few faunal remains (Lyubin 1977: 143-189). During the late 1970s and 1980s, new discoveries and investigations at four major Mousterian sites significantly expanded the data base, especially with respect to faunal remains. The sites, which range in elevation between 100 and 1350 m asl, include Il'skaya II, Matuzka Cave, Bar- akaevskaya Cave, and Mezmaiskaya Cave. Preliminary This content downloaded from 128.138.73.68 on Sun, 21 Dec 2014 18:12:44 PM