FINAL PALEOLITHIC SITE OF DOLISHNIY IVACHIV I

Abstract

The period of the Final Paleolithic took place during significant climate changes that required the adaptation of the ancient population and have been reflected in its material culture. This process was manifested in the changes of flint knapping technique which are most visible in the materials of manufacturing centers. This also concerns the sites located on the territory of the Volhynian-Podolian Upland — one of the key areas in the study of the issues of prehistoric settlement of the territory of Ukraine. It should be noted that the insufficient level of development of the source base complicates the process of studying the Final Paleolithic of the region. The available sources are mainly based on surface material and only a few sites are researched by stationary excavations.

The paper presents a typological analysis of the collection of surface materials from the site of Dolishniy Ivachiv I in the Ternopil region, which is stored in the stocks of the Ivan Krypiakevych Institute of Ukrainian Studies of the NAS of Ukraine in Lviv. Paleolithic sites in the vicinity of the village of Ivachiv Dolishniy were discovered in 1948 during surveys conducted by the Dubno-Kremenets Paleolithic Expedition headed by M. Rudynskyi. The site of Dolishniy Ivachiv I was discovered by O. Sytnyk in 1981. It is located 100 m north of the village in the upper part of the cape-like formation of the watershed plateau at the confluence of the Igra River into the Seret River. Since the early 1980s, O. Sytnyk has been conducting surveys in this area, and in 1987 he carried out small-scale excavations. Three cultural layers of the Middle and Upper Paleolithic were recorded. In 2005, another collection of surface material was conducted at the site.

The collection of 2005 includes 670 items. They are made of local high-quality Cretaceous Turonian flint. The following groups of flint artifacts are distinguished in the collection: pre-cores, cores, flakes, blades, unspecified blanks and fragments, and tools.

Among the cores, the most common are items with one or two striking platforms. Cores prismatic in shape are dominant. Among tools retouched blades and fragments of blades with retouch prevail, and a small amount of burins are also represented.

The significant quantitative advantage of technical flakes over tools, the close distance to the outcrops of high-quality raw materials, and the presence of pre-cores, cores, and blanks, which present different stages of the process of flint knapping and tool making, allow us to interpret the site as a manufacturing center. Taking into account its stratigraphic position and the set of technical and typological characteristics of the collection the presented materials can be attributed to the Final Paleolithic period.