THE ARCHaeoLOGY OF THE OCCUpatION OF THE EAST EURopeaN TAIGA ZONE at THE TURN OF THE PALaeoLITHIC-MESOLITHIC LEONID ZALIZNYAK The Archaeologythe Occupation of European of the Taigaof East the Zone Palaeolithic-Mesolithic at the turn NYAK Abstract Z I L LEONID ZA This article addresses the complicated issues of the primary ������������������������population of the forest �����������������������������������������one in Eastern Europe ������������������at the turn of the Pleistocene-Holocene and������������������������������� the forms of its occupation ���������y humans� Key �ords �����������East Europe Palaeolithic Mesolithic ����Lyng����������y Culture Ss�����������������iderian Culture population� During the second half of the 20th century significant During the ������������Mesolithic�� t�����������������������������o separate cultural and his- successes in the study of ancient populations in the torical communities emerged in the �oodlands of East- northern part of Eastern Europe were achieved, reflect- ern Europe Postlyng������������y and Posts���������������iderian� Posts�ide-ide- ed in numerous �orks �y famous experts in the Late rian Culture of the early Holocene is dated 8000 to Palaeolithic and �������������������������������������Mesolithic��������������������������� archaeology of this region 5,000 years BC and covers cultures such as Kunda of (Indreko 1948; Гурина 1956; Taute 1965; Римантене the eastern Baltic Sukhona and Oleny Ostrov of the 1971; Schilde 1975; Kozlowsky 1975; Кольцов 1977; territories near Lake Onega and regions to the east of Панкрушев 1978; Ошибкина 1983, 1997; Зализняк it Butovo of the Upper Volga and Oka Valdai and 1984, 1986, 1989, 1995, 1998, 1999; Zagorskis also Posts�iderian monuments of Karelia the �est- 1987; Zagorsk�������a 1996; Калечиц 1997; Ксензов 1988; ern Dvina and Pechora from the eastern Baltic up to Сорокин 1990; Копытин 1977, 1992, 2000; Sulgo- the northern Urals� The Posts�iderian community������������ of stowska 1989; Szumchak 1995; Синицына 1996; Eastern Europe is genetically connected through Pre-Pre- Коltsov, Zhilin 1999; Ostrauskas 1998, 2002; Kravtsov �oreal monuments of Pulli type and Late s�iderian of 1999; Залізняк 1989, 1995, 1999, 2002). Important in- Laukskola type �ith typical s�iderian Culture of the formation �as o�tained in the course of anthropologi- Nieman Pryp’yat and Vistula river �asins �hich is cal research of the Oleny Ostrov Zveinieki Popovo dated as Dryas III, ie nine thousand years BC ������(�����Зализ�- burial grounds (Денисова 1975; Гохман 1984, 1986; няк���������������� 1989, 1999: 232�248). Zagorskis 1987; Ошибкина 1994, 1997; Potekhina The Postlyng�y cultural community of the late Palaeo- 1999). lithic and Mesolithic in Eastern Europe is also kno�n The large source �ase and the copious analytical re- as Eastern Ahrens�urgian Protoahrens�urgian and search mentioned give a clear enough idea a�out the Krasnosillya Culture� In the Mesolithic it covered the ancient population of the forest �one in Eastern Europe cultures of Grensk of the Upper Dnieper region Pi- and a�out the forms of its occupation� ���������������There are three sochny Riv of the Desna �asin and Ienevo of the Up- versions of the direction of the primary population of per Volga and Oka �asins� Postlyng�y Mesolithic of the the East European north: from the east (Брюсов 1952), mentioned territories in the centre of Eastern Europe from the west ���������������������������������(Indreko 1948; Римантене 1971; Ko�- is genetically connected through ��������������������Krasnosillya Culture zlowsky 1975; Зализняк 1984, 1986, 1989), and from monuments of Dryas��������� III �Krasnosillya�������������� E Krasnoselsk the south �y descendants of mammoth hunters from 6, Velyky Midsk, Borovka, Khvoina, Ust�Tudovka I) the Desna and Middle Dnieper basins (Коп����������ытин������ �9�� �ith typical Eastern Lyng�y monuments of the end of 1992, 2000). The old dispute between the supporters Alleröd/the �eginning of Dryas III �Anosovo i Podol of the primary settlement of this region from the east III, Krasnoselsk 5). The last appeared in Eastern Eu- headed by A.Brusov (1952), and from the west seems rope as a result of the advance of �earers of typical to �e over �ith the victory of the latter� Lyngby traditions from the southwest Baltic (Fig. 1) at the �eginning of Dryas III �hen s�iderian Culture just began to form (Зализняк������������������������� 1989, 1999:���� ���211�224). 94 According to archaeological information the origins la Nieman Pryp’yat and Upper Dnieper in the Novy � of ancient populations are traced in a retrospective �ay Mlyn iii Rudnya Kashetos Odri�shyn and Pri�or in the cultural and historical community of reindeer sites� O�viously this is evidence of the occasional pen- A hunters of the south and southeast Baltic components etration of �earers of Ham�urgian Culture into Eastern IC of �hich �ere Lyng�y Ahrens�urgian s�iderian and Europe ��������������������������(Залізняк 1989, 1999а:���� 208������211). T L Krasnosillya cultures of the Alleröd and Dryas III pe- During the Alleröd Magdalenian descendants of Kro- riods ����������������������������������(10,000 to 9,000������������������ years BC). The up�to�����������date state magnonians of glacial Europe took part in forming BA of sources allo�s us to reconstruct in a general �ay the A Lyng�y Culture in the �estern Baltic� The a�rupt fall process of the advance of the mentioned population to GI of temperatures at the �eginning of Dryas III a�out O the north of Eastern Europe as it �as setting itself free L 11,000 years ago caused the retreat of the Lyng�y pop- from glacial phenomena in the early �eginnings of the ulation from the western Baltic (Jutland) in a southeast AEO Holocene� direction and its further migration across north Ger- RCH Archaeological information is the �est evidence of man Polish Poliss’ya lo�lands the Nieman and Up- A po�erful migratory �aves �hich moved during the per Dnieper �asins right up to the source of the Volga last 13,000 years in the corridor between the Baltic (Fig. 2). This explains the appearance of typical Lyn- and the Carpathians from �est to east into the forest gby Culture complexes in the Nieman (Krasnoselsk 5, zone of Eastern Europe ������������������������������(Залізняк 2001).�������������� In the south Vilnius 1) (Fig. 4), and Upper Dnieper (Anosovo, Ber- �aves of these migrations periodically poured over esteneve) basins, near the source of the Volga (Podil northern Ukraine �the Poliss’ya lo�land lands near III) �����������������������������(Залізняк 1989, 1999:�������� �������41, 210��������������216; Синицына the Carpathians, Volyn). But the main wave of migra- 1996). tion moved in a northeast direction around the Baltic On the genetic �asis of Lyng�y Culture in Dryas iii Sea� The oldest of these migrations are concerned �ith three related cultures of reindeer hunters �ith arro�- the primary settlement of northern Europe in connec- heads made on �lades �ere formed� We mean Ahrens- tion �ith the retreat of the glaciers� Taking into account �urgian Culture in northern Germany s�iderian Cul- the ne�est facts of archaeology anthropology and pa- ture of the Vistula Pryp’yat and Nieman �asins and laeolinguistics �e can conclude that they are directly Krasnosillya Culture of the Nieman Pryp’yat and Up- related to the forming of the genetic �����������������ackground of the per Dnieper basins (Fig. 3). Exactly these descendants Saami in the north and the Finno-Ugric peoples in the of the Kromagnonians of glacial Europe inha�ited the north of Eastern Europe (Zaliznyak������� 2002). north of the continent �hich �ecame free of glaciers at About 13,000 years ago the southern Baltic was freed the turn of the Pleistocene and Holocene� from the Scandinavian glacial shield� Boundless lo�- The �earers of cultures �ith arro�heads made on lands that stretched over 2,500 kilometres from Britain blades (Ahrensburgian, Swiderian, Krasnosillya) were in the �est up to Desna in the east �ere covered �ith the most northern inha�itants of the continent during cold tundra�stepре and numerous herds of reindeer, the last thousand years of the Pleistocene� To the north and �ecame good for settlement �y glacial hunters of the Middle European lo�lands occupied �y them in from the south� At that time a large amount of �ater Dryas III stretched the cold and unsettled glacial des- �as locked in the �ody of the glacier �hich is �hy the erts or �aters of the cold Baltic Glacial Lake� A�rupt level of the �orld’s oceans �as many times lo�er than �arming at the turn of the Pleistocene and Holocene at present� There �as no North Sea �et�een Britain made climatic conditions in northern Europe �etter� and Nor�ay and �oundless lo�lands the North Sea The forest-tundra climatic �one moved far to the north� continent, stretched over this area (Fig. 1). The hunters of Lyng�y Ahrens�urgian s�iderian and The first inhabitants of these middle European glacial Krasnosillya cultures also moved after herds of rein- lowlands 13,000 to 12,000 years ago became the rein- deer to the north around the �est and the east of the deer hunters of Ham�urgian Culture� The formation of Baltic (Fig. 1). Having played the leading role in oc- this culture is connected �ith the advance of Magdale- cupying the north of Europe these �earers of cultural nian hunters to Holland Britain and the Ham�urg area traditions of arro�heads made on �lades �ecame the (Rust 1937; Burdukiewicz 1987: 176�180).��������� Archaeol�- genetic �asis of ancient cultural and historical