Sungir. Russia 25,000 years ago

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-10 19:46

Sungir is an Upper Paleolithic site of an ancient man on the territory of the Vladimir region. The parking lot is located on the eastern outskirts of the city of Vladimir at the confluence of the stream of the same name into the Klyazma River, a kilometer from Bogolyubovo.

The parking lot was discovered in 1955 during the construction of the plant by S. N. Astakhov and E. N. Chernykh, then explored by O. N. Bader.

Initially, the estimated age is 25 thousand years. However, the dates obtained in different laboratories are quite different, but they are within the Bryansk or Middle Valdai interstadial (Molo-Sheksna interglacial) of the Valdai glaciation. According to Oxford University studies, the age of the paired burial is estimated at 28700-29900 calendar years ago, the series of dates obtained at the University of Arizona is 30600-31700 calendar years ago, and the date obtained at Keele University is about 30500 calendar years ago.

Sungir is one of the richest and most explored sites of ancient people: during the excavations, which were carried out here for almost 30 years, about 70 thousand archaeological finds were made.

Anthropological finds in Sungiri are represented by an isolated skull, six skeletons, a femur without epiphyses, and a fragment of a femur. Sungir became famous for its spectacular burials: a man 40-50 years old (Sungir-1) and adolescents: a boy 12-14 years old (Sungir-2) and a girl 9-10 years old (Sungir-3), lying with their heads to each other. The teenagers' clothes were trimmed with mammoth bone beads (up to 10 thousand pieces), which made it possible to reconstruct their clothes (which turned out to be similar to the costume of modern northern peoples); in addition, there were bracelets and other adornments made of mammoth bones in the graves. Javelins and spears made of mammoth bone were placed in the grave, including a spear 2.4 m long. The burials were sprinkled with ocher. Mitochondrial DNA analysis showed that the boy (S2) and the girl (S3) were most likely siblings, as they had the same CRS (Cambridge Reference Sequence) 16129 mutation.

The Sungir people are referred to as Cro-Magnons. They were tall (178 cm). The man from Sungir was distinguished by brachymorphism, great growth, a large conditional indicator of volume and a high ratio of body mass to its surface, and in terms of physique was directly opposite to the man from Kostenok-14 (Markina Gora). Sungir 1 is most likely included in the most numerous craniological variant presented by Chanselyad, Komb-Kapel, Prshedmosti 3 and 9, Mladech 1, Urtiaga B1, and, possibly, San Teodoro 1, 3, Barma Grande 5. X-ray structural analysis of the male skeleton Sungir 1 made it possible to establish that it is characterized by decreased corticalization and a very large space that filled the bone marrow. The Sungirian has a very small proportion of the cortical layer in the architecture of the humerus compared with most of the later samples. According to this indicator, which characterizes the volume of the bone marrow, which performs an important hematopoietic function, the Sunghir is located between the Eskimos and the Altai Afanasyevites from Kurota II. The maximum differences between the Sungir people were found with the Natufian groups. These data indicate an increased function of hematopoiesis in the inhabitants of the Paleolithic north, which allowed them to survive in extreme conditions.

The main occupation of the Sunghir people was hunting mammoths, reindeer, bison, horses, wolves and wolverines.

The Sungir site has a more developed culture than the Strelets one, but there is also much in common with it in the technique of stone processing and the set of stone tools. According to O. N. Bader and A. N. Rogachev, the Sungir site most likely belongs to the late stage of the Streltsy culture. A number of scientists note both Aurignacoid and Seletoid traits in its material culture. Most researchers who attribute the Sungiri industry to the streltsy culture call the Middle Paleolithic industries of the eastern Crimean Mycocoque the source of its genesis. Items made from mammoth bones are similar to finds from early Aurignacian localities. Sungiri also has a high percentage of deer antlers - 16%.