Pages:  223-250 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.55086/sp252233250

A comprehensive study of the flint inventory of the Mayak 2 settlement was conducted as part of the investigation into bone processing in the Neolithic and Bronze Age in the Kola North. A total of 518 items were examined. The technological and typological analysis results indicate that the artefacts can be classified into two technological contexts. The industry of flake tools includes cores, flakes, scrapers, perforators, and multifunctional tools. The industry of bifaces encompasses projectiles, knives, preforms, and trimming flakes (BTF). The utilization of low-quality flint from the local sources was identified. The bifacial preforms and BTF concentration in the southwestern part of the site indicate their Early Neolithic age. Compared with collections of other sites in the region, it can be assumed that the bifacial technology spread here in the Early Neolithic was also realized using local low-quality flint. Over time, there was a decline in local production, and by the Late Neolithic period, only high-quality, imported artefacts were in circulation. A use-wear analysis of 368 artefacts revealed traces of wear related to the processing of skin/meat, wood, bone/antler, and stone (?) on 61 items. Treating soft organic materials was a predominant practice (over 70%). The traces associated with bone/antler processing account for a mere 8%. This is an implausibly small percentage for the bone and antler processing site. Probably, the treatment of these materials was carried out with quartz and slate tools.

Keywords: Northern Fennoscandia, settlement, flint implements, typology, traceology, Neolithic, Bronze Age

Information about authors:

Anton Murashkin (Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation). 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: 0000-0001-7902-9305

Darya Fedorova (Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation). 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: 0000-0001-6799-6541

Alevtina Kiseleva (Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation). 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: 0000-0002-1860-5994