Pages: 15-45 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.55086/sp2511545
The paper deals with some finds from the Imanai cave in Bashkiria, Southern Ural, which provide evidence of cave bear hunting by the Middle Palaeolithic inhabitants of the region. The excavations conducted in 2015–2016 yielded a small cave bear (Ursus rossicus) cranium with a hole in the right temporal bone. Judging by its morphology and the absence of bone regeneration traces, the hole resulted from a perimortem injury. The only direct radiocarbon date suggests that the animal died at least 40 kya. A small collection of stone tools, found in one layer with the skull, consists of several foliated points and two asymmetrical bifacial backed knives and could therefore be classified as a Micoquian industry. The main part of the paper addresses the results of use-wear and experimental studies, which confirm the hypothesis that a stone-tipped spear induced the wound that caused the death, and that the spearhead was similar to those present in the archaeological collection. There are also grounds to think that the bear was killed during hibernation.
Keywords: Southern Urals, Imanay cave, Middle Paleolithic, small cave bear, hunting, traceology, experiments
Information about authors:
Mikhail Zhilin (Moscow, Russian Federation). Doctor of Historical Sciences. Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Dmitry Ulyanov St., 19, Moscow, 117292, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
ORCID: 0000-0002-3891-2959
Dmitry Gimranov (Yekaterinburg, Russian Federation). Candidate of Biological Sciences. Institute of Plant and Animal Ecology, Ural branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. 8th March St., 202, Yekaterinburg, 620144, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
ORCID: 0000-0002-9592-5211
Leonid Vishnyatsky (Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation). Doctor of Historical Sciences. Institute for the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Dvortsovaya Emb., 18, Saint Petersburg, 191186, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
ORCID: 0000-0003-3069-5715
Alexander Otcherednoy (Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation). Candidate of Historical Sciences. Institute for the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Dvortsovaya Emb., 18, Saint Petersburg, 191186, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
ORCID: 0000-0001-7616-5686
Vyacheslav Kotov (Ufa, Russian Federation). Candidate of Historical Sciences. Institute of History, Language and Literature of the Ufa Federal Research Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Oktyabrya Ave., 71, Ufa, 450054, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
ORCID: 0000-0002-3510-0058
Mikhail Rumyantsev (Ufa, Russian Federation). Institute of History, Language and Literature of the Ufa Federal Research Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Oktyabrya Ave., 71, Ufa, 450054, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
ORCID: 0000-0003-2787-3074
Anton Kochnev (Yekaterinburg, Russian Federation). PhD of history. Ural Federal University named after the First President of Russia B. N. Yeltsin. Mira St., 19, Yekaterinburg, 620002, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
ORCID: 0009-0001-9764-1765