Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T07:19:10.811Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

RADIOCARBON DATING ROZHOK I, A MIDDLE PALEOLITHIC OPEN-AIR SITE IN SOUTHERN RUSSIA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2022

A K Otcherednoy ,
P E Nehoroshev ,
L B Vishnyatsky ,
E V Voskresenskaya ,
J R Southon Open the ORCID record for J R Southon [Opens in a new window]  and
J F Hoffecker Open the ORCID record for J F Hoffecker [Opens in a new window]
A K Otcherednoy
Affiliation:
Institute for the History of Material Culture, Russian Academy of Sciences, Dvortsovaya nab., 18, 191186 St. Petersburg, Russian Federation
P E Nehoroshev
Affiliation:
Institute for the History of Material Culture, Russian Academy of Sciences, Dvortsovaya nab., 18, 191186 St. Petersburg, Russian Federation
L B Vishnyatsky
Affiliation:
Institute for the History of Material Culture, Russian Academy of Sciences, Dvortsovaya nab., 18, 191186 St. Petersburg, Russian Federation
E V Voskresenskaya
Affiliation:
Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences, Staromonetnoi pereulok, dom 29, str. 4, 119017 Моscow, Russian Federation
J R Southon
Affiliation:
Earth System Science Department, B321 Croul Hall, University of California-Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697-3100, USA
J F Hoffecker*
Affiliation:
Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309-0450, USA
*
*Corresponding author. Email: john.hoffecker@colorado.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Samples of bone and teeth from the Middle Paleolithic open-air site of Rozhok I, located on the Gulf of Taganrog, were dated by radiocarbon (14C). We obtained 26 accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dates on a large sample of nonhuman bone and teeth recovered by N. D. Praslov during 1961–1962 from 5 of the 6 occupation horizons at Rozhok I. Two rigorous pretreatment methods were applied to the samples: ultra-filtration and XAD resin. The 14C ages from the uppermost two layers (Horizons 1 and 2) are infinite with the exception of one age near the limit of the 14C method. By contrast, the dates from Horizon 3 and the two lowermost layers (Horizons 5 and 6) are all finite ages and some are less than 45,000 BP (uncalibrated). While there is evidence of some post-depositional disturbance, there is no evidence of a stratigraphic reversal of the cultural layers. The simplest explanation for the pattern is that bones and teeth in the lower layers have been contaminated by groundwater containing young carbon. We conclude that Rozhok I probably antedates 50,000 cal BP and is beyond the range of 14C dating.

Keywords

human toothMiddle Paleolithicradiocarbon
Type
Research Article
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 64 , Issue 1 , February 2022 , pp. 153 - 170
Check for updates
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press for the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Beaumont, W, Beverly, R, Southon, J, Taylor, RE. 2010. Bone preparation at the KCCAMS laboratory. Nuclear Instruments and Methods B 268:906–909.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Calabrisotto, CS, Fedi, ME, Caforio, L, Bombardieri, L, Mando’, PA. 2013. Collagen quality indicators for radiocarbon dating of bones: new data on Bronze Age Cyprus. Radiocarbon 55:472–480.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Doronicheva, EV, Nedomolkin, AG, Kulkova, MA, Gerasimenko, MV. 2017. Flint procurement and transportation in the Middle Paleolithic in the north-eastern coast of the Azov Sea (preliminary results). In: Pereira T, Terradas X, Bicho N, editors. The exploitation of raw materials in prehistory: sourcing, processing and distribution. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 284–304.Google Scholar
Gerasimova, MM, Astakhov, SN, Velichko, AA. 2007. Paleolithic man, its material culture and environment. St. Petersburg: Nestor-Istoriya. In Russian with English title.Google Scholar
Hoffecker, JF, Holliday, VT, Nehoroshev, P, Vishnyatsky, L, Otcherednoy, A, Salnaia, N, Goldberg, P, Southon, J, Lehman, S, Cappa, P, et al. 2019. The dating of a Middle Paleolithic blade industry in southern Russia and its relationship to the Initial Upper Paleolithic. Journal of Paleolithic Archaeology 2(4):381–417.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Khaldeeva, NI, Kharlamova, NV, Ocherednoy, AK. 2020. Morphology of the upper second permanent human molar from the Middle Palaeolithic site Rozhok I. Comparative analysis. Stratum Plus No. 1:361–370. In Russian with English title and abstract.Google Scholar
Kolesnik, AV. 2003. Srednii Paleolit Donbassa (Middle Paleolithic of the Donbass). Donetsk: Lebed’. In Russian.Google Scholar
Kolesnik, AV. 2018. “Eastern Micoquian type” sites in Donbass and the northeastern Azov Sea region. Zapiski IIMK RAN 17:141–150. In Russian with English title and abstract.Google Scholar
Kolobova, KA, Roberts, RG, Chabai, VP, Jacobs, Z, Krajcarz, MT, Shalagina, AV, Krivoshapkin, AI, Li, B, Uthmeier, T, Markin, SV, et al. 2020. Archaeological evidence for two separate dispersals of Neanderthals into southern Siberia. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 117(6):2879–2885.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ocherednoi, A, Salnaya, N, Voskresenskaya, E, Vishnyatsky, L. 2013. New geoarcheological studies at the Middle Paleolithic sites of Khotylevo I and Betovo (Bryansk oblast, Russia): some preliminary results. Quaternary International 326–327:250–260.Google Scholar
Picin, A, Hajdinjak, M, Nowaczewska, W, Benazzi, S, Urbanowski, M, Marciszak, A, Fewlass, H, Socha, P, Stefaniak, K, Zarski, M, et al. 2020. New perspectives on Neanderthal dispersal and turnover from Stajnia Cave (Poland). Scientific Reports 10:14778.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Praslov, ND. 1968. Rannii Paleolit Severo-Vostochnogo Priazov’ia i Nizhnego Dona (Early Palaeolithic of the North-Eastern Azov Sea and Lower Don Areas). Materialy i Issledovaniia po Arkheologii 157. Leningrad: Nauka. In Russian.Google Scholar
Praslov, ND. 1984. Rannii paleolit Russkoi ravniny i Kryma (Early Paleolithic of the Russian Plain and Crimea). In: Boriskovskii PI, editor. Paleolit SSSR. Moscow: Nauka. p. 94–134. In Russian.Google Scholar
Reimer, PJ, Austin, WEN, Bard, E, Bayliss, A, Blackwell, PG, Ramsey, CB, Butzin, M, Cheng, H, Edwards, RL, Friedrich, M, Grootes, PM, Guilderson, TP, Hajdas, I, Heaton, TJ, Hogg, AG, Hughen, KA, Kromer, B, Manning, SW, Muscheler, R, Palmer, JG, Pearson, C, van der Plicht, J, Reimer, RW, Richards, DA, Scott, EM, Southon, JR, Turney, CSM, Wacker, L, Adolphi, F, Büntgen, U, Capano, M, Fahrni, SM, Fogtmann-Schulz, A, Friedrich, R, Köhler, P, Kudsk, P, Miyake, F, Olsen, J, Reinig, F, Sakamoto, M, Sookdeo, A, Talamo, S. 2020. The IntCal20 Northern Hemisphere radiocarbon age calibration curve (0–55 cal kBP). Radiocarbon 62(4):725–757. doi: 10.1017/RDC.2020.41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stafford, TW, Brendel, K, Duhamel, RC. 1988. Radiocarbon, 13C and 15N analysis of fossil bone: Removal of humates with XAD-2 resin. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 52:2257–2267.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stepanchuk, VN, Vasil’eva, SV. 2018. Late Neanderthals of the Crimea: Zaskalnaya VI (Kolosov Site) Layers III and IIIa. Kiev: SLOVO. In Russian with English title and abstract.Google Scholar
Vishnyatsky, LB, Nehoroshev, PE, Otcherednoi, AK. 2019. Novye dannye po khronologii srednoi paleolita Vostochnoi Evropy (pо rezul’tatam polevykh issledovanii IIMK RАN 1998—2018 gg.). (New data on the chronology of the Middle Paleolithic of Eastern Europe [based on the results of field studies of the IIMK RAS 1998-2018]). In: Vinogradov YuA, Vasil’ev SA, Stepanova KN, editors. Proshloe Chelovechestva v Trudakh Peterburgskikh Arkheologov na Rubezhe Tysyacheletii. St. Petersburg: Peterburgskoe Vostokvedenie. p. 69–82. In Russian.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vishnyatsky, LB, Ocherednoi, AK, Hoffecker, JF, Voskresenskaya, EV, Nehoroshev, P, Pitul’ko, VV, Holliday, VT. 2015. Age of the sites Khotylevo I and Betovo in light of the results of radiocarbon dating (preliminary communication). Zapiski IIMK RAN 12:9–18. In Russian with English title and abstract.Google Scholar