Pages: 175-191

The article discusses the features of the natural environment during the late Boreal and Atlantic periods of Holocene and its impact on the lives of primitive people. The uniqueness and originality of the region are due to its locality, landscape and hydrological characteristics (the section where the Dnieper breaks through a crystal massif, numerous islands, rapids, rocks etc.), diversity of flora and fauna (a combination of forest and steppe species, extensive species and quantitative composition of fish and malaco-fauna, a high level of woody vegetation, unlike in the neighboring areas etc.). An integrated approach to the paleoecological analysis of archaeological materials has allowed to trace adaptive strategies to exploiting the environment in the region, the specifics economic model as well as to substantiate the existence of the economic calendar (cycle) and to recreate its possible model.

Keywords: Eastern Europe, Dnieper Rapids Region, Holocene, Mesolithic, Neolithic, adaptation.

Information about author:

Olga Demchenko (Odessa, Ukraine). Odessa I. I. Mechnikov National University. Dvoryanskaya St., 12, Odessa, 65000, Ukraine
E-mail: [email protected]