Animal material resources at Bacho Kiro Cave (Bulgaria): bone tools, personal ornaments, and human behaviour during the Initial Upper Palaeolithic.

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• Dr. Naomi Martisius (University of Tulsa)
• Friday 06 May 2022, 16:30-17:30
• McDonald Institute Seminar Room, Department of Archaeology/Zoom.

If you have a question about this talk, please contact akk50.

Abstract: A multi-faceted understanding of the Palaeolithic landscape and the organisms that lived and interacted within it is critical to any question regarding the evolution of our species. Homo sapiens expanded out of Africa, replacing or absorbing all other hominin populations. To understand this process is to understand how Homo sapiens interacted with the resources available to them as well as other hominin groups. In considering resources, artifacts made from hard animal tissues from layers at Bacho Kiro Cave (Bulgaria) are of special interest. These artifacts have been attributed to the Initial Upper Palaeolithic (IUP) and are directly associated with Homo sapiens remains dated to approximately 45 ka. Bacho Kiro Cave is one of the largest and best-preserved sites attributed to the earliest Homo sapiens in Europe, in a location that represents a crossroads to western Europe and Eurasia. In this talk, I present the osseous artifact collection from Bacho Kiro Cave. The assemblage includes objects made from taxa such as cervids, large bovids, and cave bear. Both formal and informal bone tools reflect a diverse technological approach for conducting various on-site activities, including the processing of animal skins–likely for cold-weather clothing. Technological flexibility is also evident, particularly in the manufacture of personal ornaments made from both carnivore and herbivore teeth. The osseous artifacts from Bacho Kiro Cave provide a series of direct insights into the bone technology, and indirect implications of social behaviour during a time when similar human behaviours are found in nearby regions. Bacho Kiro Cave is a key piece of a large and complex system of widespread movement and change.

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This talk is part of the PalMeso Seminar Series series.

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• McDonald Institute Seminar Room, Department of Archaeology/Zoom
• PalMeso Seminar Series

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