Use of stone at the Irba 2 Paleolithic site (Krasnoyarsk region)

The article is focused on study of raw material strategies of the inhabitants of the Late Paleolithic site of the Afontovo culture Irba 2, located in the Upper Yenisei River basin. The analysis of the lithic collection using raw material unit and refitting methods allowed us to identify 248 raw material groups, the composition of which reflects 5 scenarios of raw material use. These scenarios describe the complete cycle of stone knapping, including the primary knapping, the tool manufacturing, the intermediate stage of blank processing, and the disposal of finished tools. Primary knapping likely played a supporting role: only 11 % of the tools were entirely manufactured on-site through the complete processing of pebbles. The largest number of knapping products and tools belong to raw material groups associated with the toolmaking stage: these groups typically lack cores, large stone fragments, and other artifacts associated with the primary knapping stage. Tool raw material groups are classified as a separate category: these are kits of artifacts made from high-quality raw materials, comprising over 30 % of tools and small debitage. Scrapers, chisel-like tools and other small tools, as well as microcores, were most often brought to the site as part of such kits. Furthermore, about a third of all tools did not fit into any raw material group, meaning they were brought to the site fully ready-made. Not only small tools but also large scrapers and pebble tools were transported to the site. Thus, economic activity at the excavated area of the site was focused not on the manufacture, but on the use of tools, which were brought as small blanks or in finished form.

Anostraca · Assemblage (archaeology) · Knapping · Pebble · Raw material · Scraper site · Stone tool · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology · Soil and Environmental Studies