Pages: 479-501

The widely spread opinion that a mass of mammoth bones found on the stations of primitive men is an evidence of hunting of this species, finds nowadays a sceptical attitude. An opposite point of view actively developed by the American researchers suggests a possibility that the bones and even carcasses of mammoths were brought in from the places of their natural death. The archaeological and palaeontological analysis of East-European materials allows to approach the solution of this problem. Given the various data received on station of Acheul and Moustier time, one may conclude that hunting of proboscideans, if any, was an exception rather than a rule. Special hunting of mammoths was not common either in the earliest period of the Upper Palaeolithic (40-25,000 years ago). Men of the time were hunting mostly for horse and reindeer. Mammoth bones and tusks, however, were widely used at the time as a valuable material for various articles. In the early Late Würm glaciation (24,000 years ago) which caused rather rigid climatic conditions for the primitive societies, a unique historical and cultural region was formed in the central part of the Eastern Europe, covering the basin of the Desna river, the Upper and Middle flow of the Dnieper and Don. Its specific feature was determined by the fact that its culturally diverse population ensured its main life activities (food, raw materials for production of tools and weapons, construction materials and fuel) by hunting of mammoth and various use of its carcasses. Many stations dated by the period of 24,000-12,000 B.P. revealed remains of tens and hundreds of these animals. Special hunting for mammoths is proved by absence of “mammoth cemeteries” typical of Siberia, or heaps of bones found in Central Europe. The stations in Dnieper-Don historical-cultural region show no deliberate selection of mammoth bones which could prove their transfer from the places of their natural death. Almost all bones of skeleton from all age groups of mammoths can be found. There is other evidence of hunting for these animals employing driving technique (catastrophic profiles of herd’s composition, topographical placement of the stations, etc.).