Multilayer Site Ust-Menza 6 (Gruzdevaya): Preliminary Results of the Study of Cultural Layers 3 and 4

• Main Author: Natalia O. Vikulova
• Format: Article
• Language: Russian
• Published: Transbaikal State University 2021-06-01
• Series: Гуманитарный вектор
• Subjects: western transbaikal; ust-menza 6 (gruzdevaya); multilayer site; middle period of the upper paleolithic; stone inventory; stratigraphy
• Online Access: http://zabvektor.com/wp-content/uploads/230621110653-Vikulova.pdf

The Chikoy archaeological expedition led by M. V. Konstantinova has been studying the Ust-Menzinsky archaeological complex in the territory of Western Transbaikalia since 1980. Particular attention is paid to the study of Paleolithic monuments within the framework of multilayer objects. They represent a unique opportunity for reconstructing the variability and continuity of paleotechnologies, as well as paleogeographic and paleoclimatic conditions of the Late Pleistocene. Of particular interest is the settlement of Ust-Menza-5, located on the IV terrace with a height of 20–22 m. In 2012, a systematic study of even higher levels of Ust-Menza began. As a result of these works, the sites Ust-Menza 6 (Gruzdevaya) and Ust-Menza 15 (Kedrovaya) were studied. In the framework of this article, we will consider the preliminary results of the study of cultural layers 3 and 4 of the multilayer site Ust-Menza 6 (Gruzdevaya). As a result of studies of the site, carried out at an altitude of 32 m above the Menza river edge, within the framework of an excavation of 100 m2, 7 cultural layers were identified, deposits 8 m thick were studied. Cultural layers 3 and 4 were attributed to two generations of ancient man in the middle pore of the upper Paleolithic in the range of 19–27 thousand years ago. This period is the least studied within the periodization of the Stone Age of Transbaikalia. The results of the study of cultural layers 3 and 4 of Ust-Menza 6 (Gruzdeva) make it possible to actualize and significantly supplement the ideas about the variability of the stone industries of Transbaikalia in the final of MIS 3 ‒ the first half of MIS 2. The author took an active part in fieldwork, office processing, preparation of scientific reports and analysis of the revealed materials.