Abstract

In 2021, the Lower Volga Paleolithic research team of the IAET SB RAS, participating in the Interdisciplinary Lower Volga Expedition organized by the IIMK RAS, the study of the Sukhaya Mechetka Middle Paleolithic site located in the northern outskirts ofVolgograd City was continued. The research was aimed at studying the chronostratigraphic position of the cultural layer and reconstructing the paleoclimate during the Neanderthal habitation period. In 2021, an additional geological section was established to the west of the buffer zone of the excavation area to study the stratigraphy of the right-side slope of the Sukhaya Mechetka gully. In 2021 the upper part of SM 14-18 (SМ East) stratigraphic sequence has been completely excavated (26 m thick). The new SM West stratigraphic sequence was established in 155 m westwards. Preliminary correlation of the layers and paleosol horizons in these two profiles was carried out. Samples for palynological, micromorphological, physicochemical and phytholithic analyses with the purpose to correlate the two sequences have been collected. Sediments were sampled for OSL dating. Studies of the buried paleosol are extremely important for understanding the dynamics of the climatic changes during the cultural layer accumulation at Sukhaya Mechetka. Pedogenetic levels that have been revealed in 2021 are comparable to the buried paleosol identified at the site earlier in depths, continuity and features of pedogenesis. Texturally graded buried paleosol described here for the first time for the SM West sequence expand our understanding of the soil spatial inhomogeneity, and, consequently, conditions of human habitation. Results of the ongoing field investigation will allow determining the cultural-chronological position of Sukhaya Mechetka in the context of the Eastern and Central European Middle Paleolithic complexes for the first time.

Keywords

Volgograd, Sukhaya Mechetka, Middle Paleolithic, stratigraphy, buried soils, absolute dating

Otcherednoy A.K.

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7616-5686

Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography SB RAS
Institute for the History of Material Culture RAS

Yanina T.A.

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0367-3900

Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography SB RAS
M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University

Romanis T.V.

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3846-5324

V.V. Dokuchaev Soil Science Institute

Kurbanov R.N.

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6727-6202

M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University

Taratunina N.М.

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1479-8805

Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography SB RAS
M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University

Eltsov M.V.

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7886-8131

Institute of Physicochemical and Biological Problems in Soil Science RAS

Kazakov E.V.

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5874-5038

Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography SB RAS

Ivanov Ya.D.

https://orcid.org/000-0002-5582-693Х

Saint-Petersburg State University

Kupriyanova M.D.

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8160-7098

Saint-Petersburg State University

Klimenko P.G.

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2577-4144

State institution “Volgograd Regional Research and Production Center for the Protection of Historical and Cultural Sites”

Remizov S.O.

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9892-8058

Historical, Ethnographic and Architectural Museum-Preserve “Old Sarepta”

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